Described by Board of Education Chairwoman Mary Grace Reed as the “best night of the year” for the board, Monday evening's regular meeting at the Farmington High School Library was host to the special recognition awards for the graduating class of 2013. Students, parents, and high school administrators were in attendance to honor the recipients.
Earning three honors, class Valedictorian Tyler Hoffman received accolades from all members of the board and is well known as an inspirational student.
In addition to being the top scholar of the graduating seniors with a grade point average of 99.77%, earning a perfect score on his SAT tests, and scoring a 5 (top score) on all ten AP course exams, Hoffman was also recognized as a scholar athlete and Presidential Scholar.
One of only 141 recipients of the Presidential award, Tyler earned the prestigious honor based on his academic transcripts, artistic excellence, community service, leadership, and a demonstrated commitment to high ideals. More than three million students are expected to graduate from American schools this year, and 3,800 qualify for the awards from which the 141 are selected by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. Hoffman will travel to Washington D.C. later in June to receive the award.
After conducting some research, Reed said she, “cannot recall another Farmington recipient of the Presidential scholar award."
Hoffman is also a varsity athlete on the high school soccer and baseball teams. He plans to attend Princeton University in the fall with the intent to participate in their Financial Engineering program.
When asked how he'd like to be remembered for his time at Farmington High School, Hoffman replied, “I don't want you to remember me, but the entire graduating class,” lauding the accomplishments of this classmates and their strength as a group.
John Mastroianni received this year's Superintendent's Award for his demonstrated leadership qualities. He served as president of the student council, but was also a community advocate for students in the school district.
“[John demonstrates] the most remarkable display of quiet leadership I have ever seen,” said high school principal Dr. Timothy Breslin.
Mastroianni will attend Worcester Polytechnical Institute and plans to study chemical engineering.
Other students receiving awards included Katherine Janiszewski, who received the Principal's award, CABE Student Leadership awards recipients Erika Isner and Jacob Schwartz, and Salutatorian Janyu Bhatt.
Mrunmayi Vyawahare and Yena Kang were named Art Scholars by the Connecticut Association of Schools in April and were also honored at the reception.
In addition to Hoffman, Tess Brown was also named a Connecticut Association of Schools Scholar-Athlete in recognition of her academic and athletic accomplishments.
