By ANTHONY BOTTAN
"After junior year, when the rankings came out, I decided to buckle down," Patel said of aiming to be valedictorian. "It was within reach."
Deochand echoed Patel's sentiments on striving to be ranked in the top of his class. "It's an honor," he said. "I've worked hard since the seventh grade and all my hard work culminated into me being named salutatorian."
Patel, who will graduate in June with a 104.66 grade point average, will attend Dartmouth University in the fall and study biomedical engineering. During her time at South, Patel took nine AP classes and said that her favorites were biology and psychology. She added that the education she received at South has prepared her for college and knows that her hard work will pay off in the future. "The AP classes I took definitely helped," Patel said of being prepared for Dartmouth. "I know one day I will come back and thank [my teachers] for what they did."
South's valedictorian is a member of the National, science and math honor societies, as well as the cultural society, science club and the school's newspaper, The Southern Bell. When Patel wasn't studying for exams or reporting on schools activities for the paper, she volunteered at the Cancer Coalition Center and the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library. She noted that school would not have been the same without the support of her teachers and friends, whom she said made her four years at South memorable. "High school was awesome thanks to them," Patel said. "I will definitely miss my friends though. I won't be able to yell down the hall to them when I'm having a mental breakdown."
While at Dartmouth, Patel said she hopes to study abroad, hopefully in England and Spain. She credits her mother as the driving, yet calming force in her life and said she made the most of her time at high school through an equal balance of work and fun. "You got to work hard, but have fun, and enjoy it while you can," Patel said of high school. "You have to use your teachers as great resources."
South's salutatorian, Deochand, will graduate in June with a 104.49 GPA and will attend Brown University in the fall with a focus in medicine. While at South, Deochand took 12 AP classes and was a member of the math, science, music, language and National honor societies. He said that the workload from his AP classes taught him the responsibility he'll need when he heads off to college in the fall. "The AP classes require you to take initiative and be responsible for your own studies," he said.
Deochand plays alto saxophone for South's band and has a hand in myriad extra-curricular activities. He is the co-editor-in-chief of the Southern Bell, and is a member of the Quiz Bowl team, wind ensemble, jazz ensemble, pit orchestra, cultural society, mathletes, the marching band and played first chair in the district band. If that wasn't enough, Deochand volunteers at North Shore University Hospital and plays in the Valley Stream Community Band. He credits his teachers, notably math teacher Ross Lipsky and American history teacher Peter Mastrota, as inspirational leaders during his four years at South. "These teachers had a vested interest in my success," he said. "Mr. Lipsky was an everyday inspiration to me and Mr. Mastrota taught me what was truly important in life."
Deochand added that he knows when he heads to Brown in the fall, he'll have to take matters into his own hands. He's nervous about being on his own, he said, but it gives him the opportunity to start with a clean slate. "It's a fresh start in college," he said. "You won't be judged for the past. It's like your an entirely new person."
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