Best of the Best: Martha's Vineyard Graduates Sunday

This Sunday, June, 12, the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) Class of 2011 will walk across the stage at the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association Tabernacle. All 166 of them. Each of them have met a crucial landmark and each have personal achievements to celebrate.

Sunday's graduation festivities will open at 1:30 p.m. with the traditional Pomp and Circumstance. Alicia Oliveira will lead as Master of Ceremony; Superintendent James Weiss will be on hand to deliver the Superintendant's Outstanding Student Award; and Principal Nixon will pay tribute to the senior class.

Among this group of talented artists, craftsmen, mathematicians, scientists, musicians, historians, writers and athletes are 20 students whose efforts have elevated them to the top of their class. Of the top 20, which includes not one, but two valedictorians, all will be going off to continue their studies at prestigious universities this fall—some of them close to home, some of them on the other side country, some on the other side of the world. Wherever their paths take them, they will be strong representatives of the kind of education and accomplishment that comes from a MVRHS education.

So, without further ado, the top 20 students of MVRHS Class of 2011:

1. Mary Harrington (Valedictorian) of Vineyard Haven, attending Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

1. Sarah Johnson (Valedictorian) of Oak Bluffs, attending Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

2. Kira Shipway of Chilmark and Vineyard Haven, attending New York University, New York, NY

3. Jill McHugh of Edgartown, attending Boston University, Boston, MA

4. Naomi Pallas of Vineyard Haven and Edgartown, New York University, New York, NY

5. Amelia Pennington of West Tisbury, attending Grove City College, Grove City, PA

6. Kristen Parece of Edgartown, attending University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

7. Mary-Louise Howell of Vineyard Haven, attending University of Edinburgh, Edingburgh, Scotland

8. Tova Katzman of Vineyard Haven, attending Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston, MA

9. Heather White of Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven, attending University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

10. Michaella Gaines of Edgartown, attending George Washington University, Washington DC

11. Cole Bilodeau of Oak Bluffs, attending Bentley University, Waltham, MA

12. Camilla Fernandez of Oak Bluffs, attending Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT

13. Emma Forbes of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, attending University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

14. Douglas Fraser of Oak Bluffs, attending University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

15. Olivia Cameron of Vineyard Haven, attending Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

16. Hudson Klebs of Edgartown and West Tisbury, attending Northeastern University, Boston, MA

17. Olivia Higham of Oak Bluffs, attending University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

18. Emily Lowe of West Tisbury, attending University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

19. Anastasia Thibodeau of Vineyard Haven, attending Northeastern University, Boston, MA

20. Anna Yuen of Oak Bluffs, attending Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY

Congratulations to this talented group of young Islanders and to the entire class of 2011. We know you're all going on to amazing things!