Among phenomenal scholars in the Class of 2006 from Floral Park Memorial High School, two outstanding students deserve special recognition for their exceptional academic achievements, community service and personal attributes. Joseph Stujenske, valedictorian; Neeharika Bhartiya, salutatorian, both serve as role models of excellence.

Stujenske, with a average of 102.87, is a modern day "Man for All Seasons." As a scholar and gentleman, he is compassionate, honest, disciplined and determined, responsible and respectful. His personal character and intelligence are extremely impressive and he is deserving of recognition for a superlative record of academic achievement, spirited extracurricular involvement and caring community service. His unique record of accomplishment is testimony to his flawless pursuit of personal and educational excellence.

Joe's love of learning began at an early age when the classroom became his favorite playground. He relished the intellectual challenge, absorbed concepts and theories easily and possessed the drive and focus to master the curricula of every subject he studied. His talents and abilities are diverse, but he finally selected mathematics and medicine as the future path for his college major and career.

Joe did not spend all of his school years driven by the desire for academic supremacy. He enjoyed every minute of his time spent in the web of school events, leadership projects and community service. His peers admired his focused worth ethic, excellent time management skills and his droll sense of humor. The yearbook, Excalibur, benefited from his creative expertise and wise financial management as business editor and editor-in-chief. His position as secretary of the Model United Nations is the culmination of various awards from the Harvard and Rutgers Model United Nations conferences.

Many times Joe also led the Mathletes to victory as president and team captain, while earning placement as top scorer in Nassau County for the past three years. As vice president of the National Honor Society, he was elected as chairperson for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort and nominated by his classmates as a Lord in the annual homecoming parade in October 2005. Most recently, he was recognized as a winner by the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Corporation. It is one among many scholarships he received as a result of his outstanding academic achievement.

Accolades for Joe are unnecessary; his records speak for themselves. However, this brilliant and talented young man is sensitive to the needs of others, has the highest ethical and moral standards of personal achievement and reflects a genuine humility about himself that is remarkable. Although Joe may be No. 1 in his class, he makes no claim to fame for his fabulous endeavors.

What matters most to Joe are the values and traditions of family and religion and concern for the welfare of those less fortunate than himself. His many dedicated hours of service to the youth ministry of Our Lady of Victory Church are evidence of his spiritual and compassionate nature. Whether visiting the Pope at the Vatican in Rome or a stranger in an AIDS hospice, Joe is present in the moment, caring, accommodating, learning and evolving. He has stretched his potential, reaped the rewards of sacrifice and study by the recognition of many prestigious awards and excellent scores on standardized and Advanced Placement tests. He has the unparalleled support of family, friends and faculty who have observed his intellectual and personal development. They wish him great luck and success in the years ahead as a student at Harvard University.

Neeharika Bhartiya, with an overall academic average of 102.60, also has an impressive record of superlative achievement. She possesses an innate intelligence, unquenchable thirst for knowledge and also portrays a natural warmth and compassion for others.

Neeharika has accomplished what very few students have been able to do. She excelled in the most rigorous programs offered within the district and completed the Instrumentations and Automation program, a course that emphasizes the development of problem-solving skills and the application of abstract math and science to a broad range of fields. Her contributions to classroom discussion invariably elicit thought-provoking conversations. When courses conflicted with her schedule she opted to audit them knowing that she would not receive credit. She also enrolled in a highly competitive women's technology program at MIT, which focused on electrical engineering and computer science. She also enrolled in a competitive Saturday program at Colombia University studying organic chemistry. These are not actions of your average or even above average student. In this realm, Neeharika clearly is one of the very few who seem to strive for excellence effortlessly and meets every academic challenge presented to her.

In conjunction with her scholastic responsibilities, Neeharika has been an active participant in myriad clubs and sports activities. Not one to shirk her civic duty, Neeharika has given back to her community through tutoring, environmental clean-ups and participating in a number of fundraising projects which include autism, diabetes and breast cancer.

It is difficult to fully capture the essence of Neeharika Bhartiya. She displays tremendous academic promise and will thrive in an academic institution that will challenge her and assist her in actualizing her full potential. We know she will continue on her path to greatness at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The administrative team, Principal Kathleen Sottile, Assistant Principals Stan Johnsen and Maureen Henry and the entire faculty of Floral Park Memorial High School are proud of the amazing record of excellence of the two top students in the Class of 2006. Congratulations.