Written By Lily Cummings|

Going into high school, different people set different goals for themselves. In the class of 2018, there have been many students who have taken their academics very seriously, and have worked hard for the grades they earn. This is especially true of the class of 2018’s valedictorian and salutatorian Kaitlyn Maurais and Kate Daley. Principal Keri Hagness described these young women as, “hard workers who worked incredibly hard for the goals they have set for themselves. Individually they both set high standards for themselves, and they meet those standards. I’ve never heard either of them complain about the work. They just do the work, and I think in that they are deserving of it knowing that they put aside and made a lot of sacrifices in order to reach the goal of being valedictorian and salutatorian.” These students are passionate not only about school, but their extracurricular, and the community inside and outside of Morgan. 

The valedictorian of the class of 2018 is Kaitlyn Maurais. She will be attending Skidmore College in the fall. Skidmore College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. She will be majoring in biology and hopes to minor in dance. Dance has been a huge part of Kaitlyn’s life as she has been dancing for a total of 16 years. 13 of those years she has been dancing competitively. She has also been a part of student council holding an officer position for 4 years as well as  a part of the National Honor Society.  Being number one in a class over 120 people is something that is extremely hard to do, but her philosophy was, “I definitely took challenging courses throughout my four years. I took a total of 8 AP/ECE courses and that certainly helped boost my GPA, but, in addition to that, you have to work hard and you have to challenge yourself within those classes.” She also added, “I honestly didn’t even think I was going to be in the top 10% which I did, and I am very incredibly happy for myself but also for my peers too. Don’t set your sights on one goal. Challenge yourself and have high goals, but don’t specifically say “Oh I’m going to be number 1.’’ Her advice to those in the grades below her, “Get good grades;, study hard, and definitely work with your peers too. It’s a collaborative environment and so challenging each other and working well together helps boost one and other and not just yourself.”   

The Salutatorian for the class of 2018 is Kate Daley. Kate is known for being a hard worker, in and out of school. Kate will be attending Uconn and will be running track and cross country there. Uconn is located in Storrs, Connecticut and is Division 1 for athletics. Like Kaitlyn, she never planned on being number two in the class. She added she had never wanted to even know her class rank until she had to. When she found out, she was proud of herself. “I just worked as hard as I could throughout high school without killing myself. It hasn’t been easy, but it has always been worth it because when school has gotten hard I always had a run to go on after school to clear my mind or a killer workout to drill into the ground and work at that. Because I wasn’t focused on one thing it didn’t overwhelm me. I always had something else to go to take my mind off one or the other. “ Her advice to the underclassmen was, “Work as hard as you can without staying up super late or sacrificing your physical, mental, or emotional health.”

These students put their best foot forward when they walk into The Morgan School. They will both be presenting speeches at graduation which will be held on June 20, 2018, at 6pm. Kaitlyn’s speech is titled, “Roads Diverging” which is based on the poem by Robert Frost “A Road Less Traveled”. Kate’s speech is titled, “When I was 5” which is about growing up. We as a class and a community look forward to those speeches. Congratulations to all of those graduating as well as the valedictorian Kaitlyn Maurais and salutatorian Kate Daley.