Calhoun High School Graduate Earns National Valedictorian Award

MERRICK, NY — Skyler Sena is a recent graduate of Calhoun High School in Merrick. Although she didn't qualify for the top honors in her senior class, Sena submitted a speech for the National Society of High School Scholars.

She was one of the students from across the country awarded $1,000 with the Virtual Valedictorian Scholarship.

"It was actually sort of the perfect storm," Sena said. "I had been thinking about, for the school newspaper, writing my own valedictorian speech."

She wanted to lend a voice to the graduating body that was not either valedictorian or salutatorian. Upon learning about this scholarship, Sena knew it "perfectly lined up with what I had written."

Part of her award-winning speech encourages fellow graduates to stay in the present.

"Try not to let the memories slip away too fast," she said. "Appreciate all the things that a place has done for you."

Sena, 18, will attend Stony Brook University in the fall with a focus on creative writing. She hopes to parlay that higher education into a publishing career, where "editing books is the dream."