Schools

Meet the Sachem East Valedictorian and Salutatorian

One heads to Georgetown, the other is off to Cornell.

Brittany Lattanza and Michael Dougherty grabbed the top academic honors at Sachem High School East for the graduating class of 2010.

Finishing No. 1 and 2, respectively, both students have known each other since elementary school.

"We've been in almost every class since fourth grade," said Dougherty.

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"It's got to be a joke in guidance," added Lattanza, while sitting in the guidance conference room at East last week. "In tenth grade we had the exact same schedule."

With 600 students in the class, being honored at graduation with a speech is an extreme accomplishment in a district as large as Sachem. Lattanza will etch her place in history with that task on graduation day, June 26.

Find out what's happening in Sachemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I can't really wrap my mind around it," said Lattanza, who will attend Georgetown and study something in the humanities field – possibly history. "I've been in Sachem since kindergarten, so it's a great honor. It's tough to write because there is so much to say. I have a rough draft going, so I just keep editing."

Dougherty, who is a piano whiz, will attend Cornell University. He was considering Johns Hopkins or Tufts, but likes the rural atmosphere of the upstate New York Ivy League school.

Lattanza, who plays viola, responded proudly about what Sachem means for the two young scholars.

"What we have here is great, really great." 


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