Lakeland High School Announces Valedictorian and Salutatorian

Lakeland High School has announced its Class of 2019 Valedictorian and Salatatorium. Jothi Ramaswamy is Lakeland High School’s Class of 2019 Valedictorian and Kiera Wax is the Salutatorian.

Jothi has been has working to spread awareness for the importance of STEM in our world for as long as she can remember. Since 2015, Jothi has been an active member of Girl’s Inc.’s Leadership Counsel: a local group of girls who meet weekly to discuss current issues affecting our community. During that same year, she developed a non-profit mentorship program for young women in grades 8-12 by partnering with PepsiCo, the platinum sponsor of The Million Women Mentor Movement. Concurrently, Jothi singlehandedly created ThinkSTEAM: non-profit organization to educate, encourage and empower girls to excel through programs in STEM and the Arts. She wrote several grant proposals and quickly secured support and sponsorships. She recently was awarded the NCWIT (National Center for Women in Technology) Aspirations in Computing Award for 2018 (one of 40 young women nation-wide to receive this award). She organized and ran "STEAM A THON" at our district's middle school to inspire and motivate girls by merging STEM and the Arts. Additionally, she was selected as Hudson Valley’s NCWIT winner; a scholarship that was awarded to a select number of students who demonstrate high aspirations in computing.

Jothi loves doing research, and has dedicated a lot of her time over the years to a variety of projects. She is an integral part of the Science Research Program here at Lakeland High School where she works during her free periods and after school on her chosen area of research, Artificial Intelligence. She also has ongoing projects that she works on independently and has been a part of Columbia University’s science research honors program, in which she assisted in developing an app for The Knot.

She recently qualified as a Semifinalist in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program due to her high PSAT scores. Last year she was invited to attend a selective conference known as the WeCode (Women Engineers who Code) hosted by Harvard University.

Jothi participated in our chamber orchestra for many years (achieving NYSSMA Level 6), volunteers as a nurse’s assistant at a local hospital, is an active member of our debate team, and runs on our cross country/track team.

Kiera is a student with many interests both in and outside of school. However, Kiera’s real passion in life is Field Hockey; and nowhere is her diligence, perseverance and total commitment more evident than on the field. Kiera has worked extremely hard to be at the top of her game – participating in year-round clinics, camps, tournaments, and winter and summer travel leagues. She has also volunteered her time and talents for the last four years to coach the 5th and 6th grade girl’s field hockey team at the Shrub Oak Athletic Club. Most impressive, however, is that as a defensive starter on Lakeland’s Varsity Field Hockey Team, for both her junior and senior years, Lakeland has been able to maintain its nine-year winning streak as the New York State Champions. Moreover, Kiera has grown so much as a player that Coach Sarsen selected Kiera to receive the Most Improved Athlete Award in the 11th grade. She also earned the distinction of being awarded the NYSPHSAA Section 1, All League Designation. She was also named a winner of the Con Edison Scholar Athlete Award this year.

In addition to field hockey Kiera has participated in lacrosse, track, and the UNICEF club. Kiera is also very involved with her church where she routinely volunteers her time at the church’s Food Pantry, on midnight runs to New York City, and on preparing and serving meals at the Jan Peek Shelter in a neighboring community. Most impressive is having been elected as a Youth Elder on the church’s Mission Commission, where Kiera has helped to organize and raise money for various mission trips that help the under served both in and outside of the United States. She has also volunteers at vacation bible camp, the SPCA camp and shelter, as well as having participated in dance benefits for the Make a Wish Foundation, Dancing Dreams and Dancers Against Cancer, to name a few. In her free time Kiera loves to spend time outdoors with her friends – whether it’s hiking some of the trials of the lower Hudson Valley, or just getting out into nature where she can relax and participate in one of her favorite activities, photography.