July 13, 2006
Highland class of 2006 graduates
DOWNTOWN AKRON — E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron was packed June 4 for the 53rd annual Highland High School commencement, where 228 members of the class of 2006 received their diplomas.
Addresses were given by class president Katie Ryan, by the two co-valedictorians, Matthew Kruza and Andrew Stefanik, and the three co-salutatorians, Haley
Bowers, Gavin Roy and Tyler Sniff.
All are members of the National Honor Society.
Kruza, son of Cathy Kruza, of Granger Township, was recognized as a National Merit Commended Scholar and received the Award of Merit and the President’s Award for Education.
He plans to major in business education at Huntington College in Alabama.
Stefanik will attend the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, from where he received the Founder’s Scholarship.
He also was named student of the year by the Baldwin Wallace College Preparatory Department.
He will major in clarinet performance.
He is the son of Carl and Martha Stefanik, of Hinckley Township.
Bowers, the daughter of Hal and Linda Bowers, of Sharon Center, will attend Ohio University, from where she was awarded a Gateway full-tuition scholarship.
She also received an honors diploma, an Ohio Board of Regents scholarship, an Award of Merit and the President’s Award for Educational Excellence.
She plans to major in pre-medicine and hopes to become a dermatologist.
Roy plans to attend Valparaiso University in Indiana, where he will major in meteorology.
He received a National Merit Scholarship, the full-tuition Founders Scholarship from Valparaiso, and a Cleveland Technical Society Scholarship.
He is the son of Brian and Debra Roy, of Granger.
Sniff, the son of Thomas and Alyce Sniff, of Sharon Center, will major in aerospace engineering at Furman University in South Carolina, from where he received the James B. Duke full-tuition scholarship.
He also received the Bob Bridges Running Scholarship and the Steven Joseph Memorial Scholarship.
Sniff’s long-term goal is to become president of the United States.
Other students recognized for their outstanding academic records were April Burchette, Nicholas Mizenko, Doug Perkins, Elizabeth Schuckert, Christopher Senesi, Rick Tabar, Catherine Textoris, Michelle Webel and Lesia Zyga.
