Briarcliff High School Names Valedictorian, Co-Salutatorians

From the Briarcliff schools

Briarcliff High School has announced its Class of 2015 valedictorian, Grace Orr, and co-salutatorians, Allen He and Adele Fu.

In addition to being a standout scholar, Orr is involved with the school’s Art Club and Red Cross Club and is a varsity soccer and basketball player. She served as a captain of the girls basketball team for the past two seasons and the girls soccer team in her senior season.

“I am proud to be a two-sport athlete,” said Orr, who committed to playing soccer at Amherst College, a Division III NCAA school, in the fall. “I have been playing soccer since I was 4, and being part of such a successful team pushed me to want to play more and be good.”

Her outstanding science teachers and experiences at BHS have made her passionate about the field of science.

“My favorite class was AP Honors Chemistry with Dr. [Robert] Saar,” said Orr. “He really cares about all his students and made me really love science.”

She added that growing up in a small but academically challenging community encouraged her to work hard throughout high school, but she made sure she still left time to have fun and take advantage of the extracurricular offerings.

Orr’s feelings about the end of high school are bittersweet. “We have grown up with a lot of these kids since kindergarten, so it’s going to be sad to leave the community,” she said.

Allen He and Adele Fu are the Class of 2015 co-salutatorians.

“I am very grateful to receive this honor,” said He.

When he is not involved with schoolwork, He enjoys playing the guitar and violin, serving as the high school orchestra’s concertmaster and playing in the Westchester Youth Orchestra. In addition, he serves as co-editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, plays varsity tennis, and is co-president of the school newspaper. He also enjoys taking part in his youth group’s events.

Fu has been involved in the Intel science research program at BHS since her sophomore year, is an avid pianist who is a member of the Music Honors Program and Music Conservatory of Westchester, and is a frequent volunteer at Phelps Memorial Hospital.

Both Fu and He credit Briarcliff’s outstanding teachers for their academic success and growing passion for the sciences.

“The teachers are the best here,” said Fu. “I really loved AP Biology and AP European History. They were very work-intensive classes that were highly rewarding.”

He, who also cited AP Biology, along with his current computer science course, as a standout class, added, “It’s a small community here, so we really had a lot of opportunities. The teachers really care a lot.”

Both of this year’s salutatorians have yet to decide where they will attend college and remain open to shaping their postsecondary options in the coming years. For now, He is looking to pursue studies in the fields of neuroscience or computer science, while Fu is looking into pre-med programs that will allow her to also study neuroscience.