The South Huntington School District is proud to announce its top two students for Walt Whitman High School’s Class of 2025!  The Valedictorian is Sienna Leaver and the Salutatorian is Erin Conlon.

Sienna Leaver will be attending Northeastern University in Boston come September.  She’ll be majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering.  She has a keen interest in anything having to do with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education.  

“Right now, I think I want to go into something with prosthetics.  Northeastern's really great because they have the Co-op program.  It allows you to do six months of real work experience. I like that because then you can try different things in the field. So right now, prosthetics is what interests me, but how do you know until you actually try it?” said Sienna.  

Sienna is proud to be the Class of 2025 Valedictorian.  It’s a distinction only a few achieve and an honor that she’ll always be able to look back on memorably.  She admits to always trying her hardest in school because being a top student was important to her.  “I feel like I've just been raised that way where learning is so important. Just having curiosity in life is really important,” said Sienna. “[Being valedictorian] is something that I'm very proud of for putting in the work and achieving because it's something that I've wanted since freshman year.” 

Sienna has won Long Island Science Congress Honors, and is captain of Walt Whitman’s Science Bowl team.  She has been inducted into the National English Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, and World Language Honor Society.  She has also been named an SAT/ACT Scholar.  But there’s more to her than just academics.  “I also really love creative writing. I've done challenges where I had to write a novel in a month.  Those are things that I do for fun,” explained Sienna. She is the editor-in-chief of the high school’s newspaper, The Paw Print; sound editor for The Whit podcast; and writes for the school’s literary magazine, Xanadu.  She is also co-founder and president of the Around the World Club.

Add athletics to an already busy schedule.  Sienna has been a member of the Whitman Girls Varsity Flag Football team throughout high school.  With all that, it’s no surprise she calls Whitman her “second home.”  “Chances are if you're looking for me, I'm probably here doing something. I’m comfortable here. It's just a really good environment to grow. You have this space to grow here as a person,” said Sienna. 

Even though Sienna finds it “just baffling” to think that she’ll start the next school year in a new space, she’s ready for the challenges and thanks her teachers for preparing her for success. “Whether it’s in or out of the classroom, I feel like I can go up to almost any of my teachers and ask them about anything, and they'll help me or guide me to someone else who can help, whether it's academic or personal. They're just really great people,” said Sienna.

Erin Conlon was thrilled to be named salutatorian of the Class of 2025.  Being at least one of the Top 10 in her graduating class was a goal she set for herself since before ninth grade so earning the second spot in her class was a fulfilling surprise. “I set really high standards for myself in general. So it meant a lot to be recognized for not only being a good student, but also having the respect of my teachers because I put in all that work,” said Erin.

Erin will be attending the University of South Carolina Honors College this fall where she has been recognized as a McNair Scholar - a scholarship offered to the top 20 out-of-state students each year based on outstanding academic talent, exemplary character, and remarkable leadership skills.  She’s majoring in Data Science with a second major in Business Economics.  “I just love math and data and things like that.  Macroeconomics was a class I took that really opened that door for me.  I'm definitely interested in sports analytics, so maybe something in that aspect.  But since I’ve only taken one economics course, hopefully doing that as a double major will open new paths in case the sports analytics doesn't work out,” said Erin.

A career having any connection to sports would be perfect for this active high school athlete who has played JV Volleyball, JV and Varsity Lacrosse and Varsity Field Hockey for Walt Whitman.  Erin has won All-County, All-Academic, and All-Tournament Field Hockey honors.  She is president of GLO - the Girls Leaders Organization - an athletic and academic honor society for Whitman student-athletes. 

Erin has been inducted into the National Honor Society, as well as the Social Studies, Math, Science, Computer Science, World Language, and English Honor Societies.  Her other academic honors include being named an AP Scholar with Distinction, an SAT/ACT Scholar,

and an AP Capstone Scholar.

She also finds time to give back to the school as a senior class officer, and to the community through service projects with high school clubs she has joined including Natural Helpers, the Interact Club, Little Wildcats, and the Taylor Swift Club.  For Erin, the extracurricular activities have been just as important as the academics.  “If my only memories from high school were studying, then it wouldn’t be worthwhile no matter what recognition you got.  I attended as many school and sports events as I could even if I had a big test the next day because I knew that that was what I was going to remember, not the grade I got on the test,” said Erin.   

Walt Whitman High School principal John Murphy said this about his two top students:  “Sienna Leaver’s academic prowess is a testament to her work ethic, determination, and dedication to her studies. And her intensity on the flag football field has been something of note and amazement.  She's an all around amazing young lady who brings pride and joy to everybody that's around her.  Erin Conlon has been involved in everything while at Whitman - student officer, field hockey team, GLO - and takes every one of her jobs seriously in terms of being part of the school community.  She dedicates all that time and effort to make sure not only that she's having the best experiences, but her peers and those around her are having those experiences as well.”

Congratulations to Sienna and Erin, and the rest of our Top 20 2025 graduates: Sameera Chaudhry, John Marr, Heather Kowalczyk, Lindsay Alms, Adriana Yaroshevsky, Haylee Lemke, Julia Dean, Alexa Costello, Kimberly Castro Perdomo, Lauren Breaton, Abigail LaRegina, Katelyn Adams, Sydni Russell, Samantha Somer, Tessa Binsol, Molly Scavo, William Lang, and Sara Duffy.  We wish all our graduates much success as you leave Whitman to pursue your dreams!