2025 Valedictorian, Salutatorian Announced By Walt Whitman HS In South Huntington

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — The top two students of the Walt Whitman High School Class of 2025 were announced by the South Huntington School District.

Sienna Leaver was named valedictorian, and Erin Conlon was named salutatorian.

Leaver is set to attend Northeastern University in Boston come September, where she will 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," Leaver said in a news release. "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?"

Leaver 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," she said. "I've done challenges where I had to write a novel in a month. Those are things that I do for fun."

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.

Add athletics to an already busy schedule. Leaver 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." But she’s ready for new challenges and thanked her teachers for preparing her for success.

"In or out of the classroom, I can go up to almost any of my teachers 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," Leaver said.

Conlon is set to attend 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 plans to major in data science with a second major in business economics.

"I just love math and data and things like that," Conlon said. "Macroeconomics was a class I took that really opened that door for me. I'm definitely interested in sports analytics."

A career having any connection to sports would be perfect for the active high school athlete. Conlon has played JV volleyball, JV and varsity lacrosse and varsity field hockey for Walt Whitman. She 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.

Conlon 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.

The rest of the top-20 2025 Walt Whitman High School graduates are 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.

Walt Whitman High School’s commencement ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. on the athletic field. Rain dates are scheduled for Saturday, June 28 and Sunday, June 29, depending on the forecast.