SHS valedictorian and salutatorian

Salamanca City Central School District announced Cole Johnson as valedictorian and Maeghan Collins  as salutatorian for the high school class of 2021.

VALEDICTORIAN COLE JOHNSON

Cole has been named the Valedictorian of Salamanca’s Class of 2021. Cole graduated with an average of 100.03 and received a NYS Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation with Honors along with Mastery in Science and Math. This was all accomplished while taking a very demanding course load which included 9 college courses and 1 Advanced Placement course. Cole is the son of Cheryl and Dave Johnson. He will be attending Rochester Institute of Technology and has been accepted into the Accelerated Dual Degree Program, majoring in Computer Engineering. Cole has received the RIT Presidential Scholarship in the amount of $18,500 per year, over the course of four years. Cole received the Seth P. Holcombe and Lucy E. Holcombe Scholarship from the Thomas Munson Foundation in the amount of $20,000.  He also was gifted the RIT Alumni Scholarship from Mr. Brendan John, a Salamanca and RIT alumnus.

Cole was very active with extracurricular activities including National Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Business/Marketing Honor Society and The National Society of High School Scholars. Cole was also the lead programmer and electrician for the FIRST Robotics School Team, a member of the RC Club, a member of the Physics Club with Dr. Robert Williams from the University of Buffalo and a founding member of Salamanca’s Dungeon & Dragon’s Club.  In 2018, Cole was named the Salamanca Science Student of the Year. In 2018 and 2019, Cole received the Salamanca STEAM fair award.  Cole also was awarded the Selby Hancox Memorial Award for Independent Technical Achievement at St. Bonaventure University and the Excellence in Extra- Curricular Activities Award in 2019.  In 2020, Cole was named the Jamestown Community College Connections Student of the Year and received the Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology.

SALUTATORIAN MAEGHAN COLLINS

Maeghan graduated with an average of 96.21 and has been named Salamanca’s Salutatorian of the Class of 2021.  She is the daughter of Deborah and Timothy Collins. Maeghan successfully completed a challenging program of study, including six college courses and two Advanced Placement courses. Maeghan earned a NYS Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation.  She will be attending Jamestown Community College in the Fall and will be receiving the USA Scholarship for two years covering the cost of tuition at JCC. Maeghan’s extra-curricular activities include National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Science Honor Society, and NHS Secretary. Maeghan was involved in Tennis (Captain Senior Year) and Bowling in which she received two MVP Awards, one CCAA First Team All-Star Award, one CCAA Second Team All-Star Award, one Sportsmanship Award and the was team captain her senior year.  She also was a member of the Unified Sports Team, Key Club, Meals on Wheels and participated in Operation Christmas Child.  Maeghan received the Certificate of Excellence Award in English, the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizens Award and the Cattaraugus County Youth Citizenship Award.