by Chris Munzing
The daughter of Russian immigrants, Yadgarov was unprepared for the title bestowed upon her in October. She said that being valedictorian was, "not really a goal. I was kind of surprised."
With the title of the number one student in her class, Yadgarov will head to New York University in the fall where she will enter as an undecided major, but believes that she will pursue a career in the field of medicine. Along with a variety of scholastic extracurricular activities such as National Honor Society and the Foreign Language Honor Society, Yadgarov was also a member of the Varsity Basketball and Lacrosse teams.
Yadgarov has a long list of awards to go with her extracurriculars as well, including a National Science Merit Award in 2001, an AP Scholar Award in 2002, a Scholar Athlete Award for Lacrosse in the same year, and was a National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student this year. She will head into NYU with credits already under her belt after she completed Summer Intensive Russian I & II at the University last summer.
She says she is looking forward to the challenges and experiences that await her on her own in Manhattan, but she also admits that she will miss her hometown. "I'll miss my family, friends, the beach, and the community," she said.
This year's Long Beach High School salutatorian is Jared Kagan. Finishing high school with a weighted average of 101.67, Kagan will take his academic excellence to Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. Kagan will major in industrial and labor relations, which he will use as a springboard to a career in law.
Kagan is not the grade-grubber everyone grew up with and that people often associate with those who achieve such a scholastic honor. Rather, he is a normal kid who says he will miss the beach the most when he goes away to school. Much like with his classmate, Yadgarov, Jared says that when it came to grades, it was always something that came naturally to him. The title of salutatorian was never a goal he set for himself. "I didn't think about it much," he said. "I wasn't aiming for it."
The son of Michael, a banker, and Amy, a nursery school teacher, Kagan took full advantage of the wide array of opportunities Long Beach High School affords its students. Over his four years in the school, he was a student in six Advanced Placement courses, including European and American history, government, English, biology and calculus.
Outside the classroom, he was a regular in various extracurricular activities. Kagan wrote for the high school newspaper, was a member of the National Honor Society, played the clarinet in the school's jazz band, participated in the school's math club and played for the Marines' tennis team.
"He's a great kid," said Mike Vitale, Kagan's guidance counselor. "I expect him to go real far in anything he tries to do. He sees things through to the end."
Looking ahead, Kagan believes that the experience of leaving Long Beach behind for his college career will be great for him. "I've been here all my life, it'll be nice to go somewhere else," he said.
Said Dr. Ron Friedman, Superintendent of the Long Beach School District, "Our valedictorian and salutatorian represent the highest standard of achievement that we set. We believe they represent the bar to which we hope every student aspires. We salute them this month on their achievement."
