Meet Class of 2011 Valedictorian Tiffany Amariuta

Tiffany Amariuta always makes time for studying. In fact when she isn’t spending time with her friends this summer before she heads off to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T). she will be furthering her studies in physics, teaching herself the next level with the calculus portion before her physics placement exam at college.

Amariuta, Class of 2011 valedictorian, is headed to Cambridge, Massuchusetts to attend the school she’s known for most of her life. Her grandfather went to M.I.T. and she’s been visiting the campus since she was a child. She said everyone there is so welcoming and it just feels like the right place.

Growing up, she had dreams of attending Princeton University and becoming an architect. She remembers admiring the homes she’d see in towns like Franklin Lakes when she was a kid. She’d even draw sketches of houses.  But it was a tenth grade chemistry class that revamped her focus on her future studies.

“The chemistry thing just clicked with me and it made the most sense,” she explained. She began to focus her future studies on chemical engineering and that ultimately changed where she would attend school. She plans to focus on the biological side of chemical engineering. She said she may consider medical school in the future but she wants to get a feel for chemical engineering first to see if that is the path she would want to take.

What she loves about chemistry and physics is that it’s very challenging at first but once she gets it down it’s a great feeling of accomplishment. “I really love the sciences,” she said.

Being class valedictorian runs in Amariuta’s family. Her mother, who was also raised in Hasbrouck Heights, was class valedictorian the year she graduated HHHS. Her father, who hails from Romania, was a recipient of the Ford scholarship. He attended Carnegie Mellon University where he too was class valedictorian. She said her father was advised by a dean from M.I.T. pointing out that the school has always been a part of her life.  

Amariuta was a member of the National Honor Society, served as president of the Italian Club and was the captain of the tennis team. She was also involved with some other clubs during her four years such as the Art Club and student council but she said she didn’t want to pile herself up with too many as she wanted to focus on studying. She and her family also travelled a lot because she was involved in pageants but she still put her studies first and would even find time while in the dressing room. 

Amariuta said she enjoys volunteering and is very involved with her parish, the Saint John Divine Episcopal Church. She does the website for the church and its organization Care on the Corner as well.

The morning after graduation, Amariuta said it felt weird to think that it’s really over now and she may not see her friends again but she knows that won’t happen. She plans to come home a lot and she will also keep in touch with her teachers.

In fact her teachers are what she will miss most about Hasbrouck Heights High School.

“If I didn’t have such great teachers I may not have done so well. They were really attentive,” she said.