Sleepy Hollow HS Announces 2021 Valedictorian, Salutatorian

SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY —The valedictorian and salutatorian from the Sleepy Hollow High School Class of 2021 are Maya Weitzen and Zachary Rudder, respectively.

Both students have been in Tarrytown schools since kindergarten, school officials said, and have worked incredibly hard to achieve the highest of academic honors — achievements made even more impressive by the fact that they are graduating during a pandemic and have spent much of their senior year in hybrid classrooms.

Weitzen will be attending Yale University in the fall, where she plans to enter the pre-med track. She says that her desire to study the biological sciences began with her Living Environment classes in seventh and eighth grade, and the medical research project she completed as part of the Science Research program at Sleepy Hollow High School further inspired her.

She is a member of the varsity soccer team, the Mock Trial club and the SHHS student government, and outside of school, she has been researching cancer treatment with Regeneron.

Rudder plans on following his passion for math and physics by studying aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech. He said he gives a lot of credit to the incredible math and science teachers in the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns, and his high school physics and calculus courses in particular inspired him to pursue engineering.

Like Weitzen, Rudder is a member of the student government and Mock Trial, and he is a three-sport athlete in basketball, football and lacrosse.

Superintendent Chris Borsari said he feels he speaks for all of the faculty and staff in the district when he says how proud everyone is of Weitzen and Rudder.

“Their hard work and dedication, along with the dedication of all of their incredible teachers, got them where they are today," he said, "and I wish them the best of luck in college and beyond.”

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