Valedictorian & Salutatorian Named In Port Jefferson

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — Earl L. Vandermeulen High School announced seniors Christine Iasso and Kyle Onghai as its valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of the Class of 2020, the Port Jefferson School District said in a news release.

Christine’s well-rounded education and extracurricular activities include being a member of the Academic Team, Environmental Club, Interact Club, Mathletes team, captain of the junior varsity basketball team and a junior counselor at vacation Bible school. She also took advantage of the impressive MIT LaunchX, a program that teaches entrepreneurial skills and mindset through starting real companies, with interactive lectures, business simulations, entrepreneur panels and the actual design and launch of a company.

Christine will major in sustainable agriculture and food systems at the University of California, Davis.

Kyle’s interests in math, investing, entrepreneurship, research and scientific journals have paved the way to being a National Advanced Placement Scholar, a National Honor Society member, a recipient of a Regents scholarship, captain of the Mathletes team and president of the Latin Club, where he has received five gold medals in the National Latin Exam, according to the school district.

He has been honored in advanced calculus on the county level and has been an award winner in the school’s Physics Bowl, Quiz Bowl, Robotics and Science Olympiad. Kyle received The President’s Volunteer Service Award for his church altar service and for working in the patient education department at Stony Brook University Hospital. He took part in the Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook University as a researcher in biomedical engineering using MATLAB and quantitative ultrasound.

He played on the high school's varsity tennis team all four years of his high school stint and made other local athletic pursuits. His musical accomplishments as a cellist and pianist led him to the Young Artist Program at Stony Brook University and as a participant in Levels 1-6 of the New York State School Music Association Festival.

Kyle will attend UCLA and major in mathematics.