Breakfast Honors Students Academic Excellence

POUGHKEEPSIE – Ninety-six Poughkeepsie High School seniors maintained a GPA of 80 or above over seven semesters at the school. These students persevered through a global pandemic, personal challenges, family challenges and more to come out on top of their class. Of those, 38 were designated Honor Graduates – achieving an average GPA of 90 or higher over those same seven semesters.

“For a couple years it has been really super hard for PHS students. The fact that you’re sitting here today after all you endured, you should feel so darn proud of yourselves – you did that!,” Royce-Giron said in her opening remarks at the annual Senior Honor Breakfast. “You made the choice to keep that Chromebook open.”

Board President Dr. Felicia Watson told students, “You persevered and for that, we salute you,” before she asked the parents, guardians and relatives of the students to stand. “Here in Poughkeepsie we have committed parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.”
The seniors’ guidance counselor, Jason Conrad, shared with parents that, “Many of these students pay homage to you (in their senior profiles). They appreciate your guidance, they quote you.”

Gabriella Fryer, program manager for the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley encouraged students to apply for scholarships. PHS has consistently been at the top of the list for students with applications submitted through the organization’s scholarship portal. In fact, she shared that 15 PHS seniors have already completed the application process and combined are eligible to apply for 147 scholarships. There are 87 other students in various stages of the application process.

“Chase that free money,” Royce-Giron encouraged the students, who all plan to attend college or a trade school.

As the names of students with GPAs from 80-89 were called out by Conrad, they were asked to stand at their places as applause rose from the tables, decorated in Pioneer blue and white. Students with GPAs from 90-101.732 were called up front and presented with their certificate and honor cord for their cap and gown.

Royce-Giron announced student GPAs along with their names, but told them, “Your GPAs don’t define you. People will measure you by your work ethic and your character.”

Princess Antonio-Cruz said she was proud of her accomplishment and now plans to attend SUNY Orange with the goal of becoming a dental hygienist.

Classmate Marc Valencia said he was “very proud” and that he strived to maintain his academics. “I wanted to have a better future,” he said. Enjoying math in high school prompted him to look at accounting and business, which is what he plans to study at Dutchess Community College.

Top of the class
Royce-Giron closed out the event by publicly announcing the Class of 2022’s valedictorian and salutatorian.

For Elijah Johnson, it is proof that dreams come true with hard work. The school’s valedictorian will be attending MIT on a full QuestBridge Match Scholarship.

“I feel relieved. I finally made it. … All the hard work and I achieved what I wanted to achieve. I got into my dream school and stayed strong academically,” he said.
Johnson said he has had goals long before high school.

“I always wanted to improve my life. Through education you can grow and insure stability in life, so it wasn’t difficult for me to stay focused,” he said, while also admitting that there were some days during the pandemic where he chose to stay in bed all day.

Salutatorian Constance Pillsbury said it was exciting to be part of the Honor Breakfast and be named salutatorian. “It’s very emotional because now we officially know,” she said.

She too planned to excel and remained focused by, “Telling myself I would get through it” and eliminating distractions by turning off her phone. “I would open my computer and kept doing my work until it was done.”

Pillsbury thanked her classmates for all their support.

Throughout the two-hour event, Royce-Giron had encouraging words for students, often sharing some personal comments about how they have impacted her or others. Known for breaking into tears during these events, she joked at the start that she knew some students were taking bets on when she would start crying. To her credit, she held out until nearly the end. It is that “fire, passion, commitment and tenacity,” Watson praised during her remarks.