Mercy High School Announces Valedictorian and Salutatorian for the Class of 2017

At the closing of the Senior Tree Dedication Ceremony, Sr. Mary A. McCarthy, RSM, President of Mercy High School in Middletown, CT, proudly announced Jessica Grodovich as Valedictorian and Eugenia Cho as Salutatorian of the Class of 2017.

Jessica Grodovich, a resident of Rocky Hill, is the daughter of Joseph and Anna Grodovich. She has been an outstanding scholar, athlete, and student leader during her four years at Mercy High School. Jessica has enrolled in the most challenging Advanced Placement and Honors courses and been recognized with the Harvard College Book Award and a wide array of subject awards that include AP Spanish, AP Physics, AP European History, Pre-Calculus and English, among others. Jessica was also Mercy’s 2016 delegate to the American Legion Auxiliary Laurel Girls’ State for her awareness of and interest in the higher callings of government and citizenship.

Jessica has held prominent student leadership positions throughout her entire high school career. She served as a Student Council Class Executive Board Member from 2014 to 2016 where she helped to plan and orchestrate all school functions and class activities. Jessica made her most valuable contributions to her school and community in her senior year when she served as President of the McAuley Chapter of the National Honor Society. It was in this capacity that she was a driving impetus behind such laudable causes as the Souper Bowl Food Drive, Mercy’s January Blood Drive, and the Easter Bunny Bundle initiative. The Santa Sack fundraiser that she and her NHS peers conducted this December raised roughly $2,300 to use and buy every item on the Christmas lists of eight underprivileged children in the area. Her other extracurricular involvements include Spanish National Honor Society, Chinese Club, Astronomy Club, Justice and Peace, and the school yearbook.

In addition to her significant academic undertakings and leadership roles, Jessica has been a perennial multi-sport athlete. She played soccer all four years at Mercy, captaining her freshman team and starting for varsity as a junior and senior. She is also a four-year member of track and field and was a contributing member of the varsity team that won the 2015 Connecticut Class L State Championship. This year she was named an SCC Fall Scholar Athlete.

Jessica’s teachers describe her as an industrious worker with a natural aptitude for seemingly every academic discipline, and a thoughtful, funny young woman whose humility belies her extraordinary accomplishments. She is a prolific multitasker who maximizes all of her gifts and every opportunity that school life affords.

Jessica will attend Boston College in the fall where she will be a member of the Honors Program.

Eugenia Cho, the daughter of Yongsok and Kelley Kim Cho, is a resident of Rocky Hill. Throughout the last four years, Eugenia Cho has achieved academic excellence in the most rigorous courses offered at Mercy High School, taking AP World History, AP US History, AP Physics, AP English Language, AP English Literature, AP Chemistry and AP Physics 2. As a junior, Eugenia was recognized for her achievements with the Rensselaer Medal, an AP Scholar with Honor distinction, and the STEM Award for high school scholars who have distinguished themselves in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. She has received class awards in Math, Science, and Publishing, the four-year award for excellence in English, and is the recipient of a $25,000 yearly scholarship to RPI. She is a member of both Mercy's McAuley Chapter of the National Honor Society and the French National Honor Society.

Eugenia's teachers describe her as an enthusiastic and gifted student who is highly motivated and has a genuine love for learning. She is both a right-brained scholar on the path to an engineering degree and a prodigious caricaturist and animator whose artwork has graced the yearbooks, newspapers, and white boards of Mercy for four years.

Eugenia's abilities and talents go beyond the classroom. During the last four years, she has immersed herself in extra-curricular activities, particularly STEM programs. She is a member of the Astronomy Club, the Ecology Club, Rotary Club, Model UN, and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Team. A key member of Mercy's Robotics team, Eugenia is a designer and technician for the TechTigers and was chosen this year's co-captain.

Eugenia helped lead the TechTigers Robotics team to a first-place blue banner at the Waterbury competition, earning the team a spot in the New England District Championships where they qualified for the World Championships. Eugenia is also a charter member of Mercy High School's Astronomy Club and is Co-President of the Ecology Club where she started Mercy's compost program.

As the Lead Editor and Illustrator for Mercy High School's school paper, "The Tiger Times," and its yearbook, Epoch, Eugenia made countless contributions that left lasting impressions. This year she led the yearbook staff in completing a Beatles themed Randolph Road yearbook, refashioning iconic Beatles album art to feature Mercy students and faculty. She was a key contributor to the 2015-2016 Mercy yearbook that received a Jostens National Yearbook Program of Excellence Award. Eugenia’s illustrations can be seen all over Mercy High School and to date have been seen by more than 150,000 viewers online.

Eugenia is gifted in many areas and her character is no less impressive. She has a high level of integrity, is humble and positive, and has a fun, witty personality. She is truly special and very deserving of her many accomplishments and recognitions.

Eugenia Cho will continue her education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and plans to major in Mechanical Engineering.