Earl L. Vandermeulen High School is proud to congratulate Olivia Schlegel as its Class of 2023 valedictorian and Kathleen Zhou as its salutatorian.

Olivia Schlegel is excited and happy to be valedictorian, seeing it as her greatest high school accomplishment. In her high school career, she has taken 12 Advanced Placement courses, five honors courses, is a National Merit Finalist, an AP Scholar with Distinction and received summa cum laude on the National Latin Exam. 

She is the class treasurer of the school’s Student Organization, editor on the school newspaper, The Current, and a member of the Latin Club, National Honor Society and Varsity Club. She also performs with the school orchestra. She is an All-County and All-State varsity swimmer, gives swimming lessons, works as a lifeguard, babysits in the community, and her community service projects include beach cleanups and gift wrapping for holiday collections. She is also a recipient of the Presidential Community Service Award.

Olivia looks forward to attending Colgate University in the fall. Olivia’s words of wisdom for her classmates are to “always work hard and stay dedicated.”

The best is yet to come, according to salutatorian Kathleen Zhou. Kathleen is a well-rounded student who has taken advantage of many of the high school’s offerings, including 13 Advanced Placement courses and six honors classes. She is also a member of the school’s Interact Club, National Honor Society, Science Olympiad team and varsity tennis team. Outside of her school day, Kathleen is a cellist with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra and has donated 120 hours of her time in volunteer service to the Port Jefferson Library. She also created a prototype of a visual aid app targeting people with visual impairment in the global high school entrepreneurial competition Diamond Challenge. She has been named an AP Scholar with Distinction. 

Kathleen will join the freshman class at Emory University, where she will double major in biology and chemistry.