The 152 members of the Verona High School class of 2014 gathered together one last time last night, for the 114th VHS commencement, held at Caldwell College. Natalie Wertz earned the distinction of class valedictorian, while Dan Li was salutatorian.
The class of 2014 has been a particularly high achieving class, with almost half of its members receiving honors or high honors. Fifteen students graduated with honors, while 55 achieved VHS’ top distinction, high honors. They have been accepted into more than 240 different colleges across the United States, from Adelphi University to York College of Pennsylvania, and their college decisionsincluded almost all of America’s highest-ranked colleges and universities. Many of the graduates this year chose to display their next education destination on their cars outside and the mortarboards on the tops of their heads.
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It was also the last VHS gathering for two key presences at the high school: Molly Emiliani–“Mrs. E” to everyone at VHS–retired from the attendance office, while RoseAnn Prendergast–“Mrs. P” retired from the biology department. Their simultaneous retirement was perhaps fate, since Mrs. P did her student teaching at VHS when Mrs. E was a student there more than 40 years ago. There had been tributes to both on the Web site of the Verona High School newspaper The Fairviewer: Mrs. Prendergast Says Goodbye and Mrs. Emiliani Signs Out.
