CHS Student-Athletes Featured Speakers At CHS Graduation 6-14-23-6 PM

STUDENT-ATHLETES WITH THE CHS CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS TO BE THE FEATURED SPEAKERS AT THE 2023 CHS GRADUATION CEREMONY ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2023 AT 6 P.M.
Article & Photos By Frank LoGiudice

Three Student-Athletes with the CHS Girls and Boys Cross Country Teams will headline the 2023 Cheshire High School Graduation Commencement Exercises on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 6 P.M. They are Valedictorian Andrew Xu, Salutatorian Clyde D’Souza and Student Graduation Speaker Megan Rossi.

Pam Gunneson-Head Coach for the CHS Boys Cross Country Team and Rob Schaefer-Head Coach for the CHS Girls Cross Country Team are equally proud of their student athletes’ academic accomplishments.

Coach Gunneson stated, “Andrew and Clyde were both four year members of the Cross Country team. I first had the pleasure of having them both as students at Dodd Middle School. They have always been responsible, dedicated, hardworking and respectful young men. The positive impact they have had on the team will be greatly missed next year and I am so grateful to have been able to work with them over the past 6 years. I am so proud of them! I know that they will have much success with all of their future endeavors. They are amazing young men.” Regarding the entire boys Cross Country Team Head Coach Pam Gunneson stated, “They are all amazing student athletes.”

Head Coach Rob Schaefer stated this about his former Student-Athlete Megan Rossi. “I am so excited that she is going to talk to her class at graduation. I'm sure she will delight everyone with her insights. I've known her for four years. She was a hardworking runner on the Cross Country team and the Indoor and Outdoor Track Teams, too. She was a good runner who improved greatly over the years. Best of all, she learned to love running and grew into one of the kindest, sweetest young ladies with whom I have ever worked with.”

What will each of the three graduation speakers do after they leave Cheshire High School?

Valedictorian Andrew Xu plans to attend Yale University in the fall. His grade point average is 5.016. As of right now he is unsure about what his intended major will be. Xu stated this, “I do not know what my major will be yet, but I am leaning towards either the social sciences (psychology or cognitive science), computer science, or mathematics. One of the reasons I'm unsure about what I want to study in the future is because of the amazing teachers here! They made everything seem so interesting that I have to take a few more years to figure it out. Some of my favorite classes were Chorus with Mr. Greg Bell, Computer Science with Mr. Kevin Faggella, Physics with Ms. Julie Barker, Biology with Mr. Jack Olexovitch, and AP Language with Mrs. Sarah Redford.”

Salutatorian Clyde D’Souza plans to attend the University of Connecticut on a full scholarship this fall to study molecular and cell biology. D’Souza stated, “I always wanted to enter applied science but wasn't dead set on going down the pre-med route. The MCB major had a perfect combination of the two and allowed me to pursue a science that I was both interested in and had decent job prospects down the line.” D’Souza made this decision because of his CHS Biology Teacher Mr. Jack Olexovitch. D’Souza stated, “My AP Biology teacher, Mr. Olexovitch, was a big inspiration. In fact, he had the exact same major when he went to UConn. He was a phenomenal and thorough teacher, and the fact that I learned so much from him, besides receiving UConn advice from him, definitely had an impact. My weighted grade point average (which takes into account the class difficulty/level), as of the first semester of senior year (the last point for which it has been recorded) is a 4.982.”

Student Graduation Speaker Megan Rossi plans to attend Fairfield University in the fall. Her intended major will be psychology with a minor in education. Rossi commented about her reasons for this area of study. “For as long as I could remember I’ve always been interested in having a career that involves working and helping people. After taking AP Psychology with Mrs. Renee Shirk I found the class very interesting as well as applicable and therefore decided to make it my major. However, my mom as well as some of my friends told me I would make a great teacher and reminded me that’s what I wanted since fourth grade, so I decided to keep that as an option by making education my minor,” stated Rossi.

Will these fine scholarly Student-Athletes continue their stellar and outstanding running careers they perfected for four years on the CHS Cross Country Teams? The answer is yes but not on their respective college teams. Xu stated this “ I will not be running varsity Cross Country at Yale, but I do hope to either pursue club running or club baseball.” D’Souza stated, “I plan to do club running. Also I hope to continue doing 5ks with my former AP Language Teacher, Mrs. Redford, who was an assistant coach for the Girls Cross Country Team.” Rossi stated, “Although I will not be running on Fairfield’s Cross Country Team, I plan to join their running club so I can continue to run. I also plan to run in any local road races near Fairfield.``

CHS Principal Dr. Mary Gadd will award the graduates their diplomas with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jeffrey F. Solan. The Class Advisors for the Cheshire High School Class of 2023 are faculty members Rebecca Daddio and Theresa LeBrun.

Congratulations and Good Luck to the Cheshire High School Class of 2023.

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