Arthur Honas, principal of the Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, recently announced the selection of the valedictorian and salutatorian for the Class of 2001. Eugene Licht and Karen Sidi, respectively, kept an American tradition dating back hundreds of years, by representing their class by bidding farewell with a valedictory and salutatory address to the district at the high school commencement exercises held last weekend at the Tilles Center on the CW Post Campus in Brookville.

Eugene served as this year's secretary of the National Honor Society and has also been a member of the National Spanish Honor Society since his junior year. He has been actively involved in METMUNC, the Political Issues Club and Mathletes during his high school career.

An outstanding scholar, Eugene received the Phillip Ferris Award for Excellence in Advanced Placement Biology, as well as awards for academic excellence in math, AP American history, AP European history and honors biology. He is also the recipient of a New York State Regents Scholar Award and a New York State Merit Scholarship.

Eugene's extracurricular activities included serving on the school's newspaper staff, The Spectrum, for four years, and as the paper's news editor during his senior year. A tennis enthusiast, he has played on both the junior varsity and varsity teams. Outside of school, he also enjoys skiing, fishing, reading and volunteering at the local hospital.

Although he was nervous about addressing the class during his valedictory address, he was also relieved. "I had to keep up my grades throughout the four years," said Eugene. "There was a lot of pressure because I knew I was in the top of my class. I was relieved when I found out that I was valedictorian of my class."

In the fall, Eugene will be attending Cornell University and will major in neurobiology. After taking Robert Tawitkin's advanced placement biology class, Eugene decided he wanted to become a doctor. "I learned so much in his class," said Eugene. Although Mr. Tawitkin was a big inspiration for Eugene, his biggest inspiration throughout school were his parents. "They never forced me to do anything, but always pushed me to make sure I was on the right track," said Eugene.

Salutatorian Karen Sidi is also a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Spanish Honor Society, serving as tutorial secretary for the latter during her senior year. Further attesting to her excellence in Spanish, Karen was named this year's ARRSP Spanish winner. An honors students and National Social Studies Olympiad, she was selected as a Bethpage Rotary Student of the Month during the 2000/2001 school year. Karen achieved a perfect score on her math sequential II and III Regents exams.

Karen has been actively involved in Youth Against Cancer for the past four years. She has been a member of the Community Service Club, serving as the Club's director in her junior year and has volunteered as an intern at North Shore University Hospital at Plainview. Karen has also volunteered for Peer Leadership, for which she was co-coordinator this year and as a member and past treasurer of the Foreign Culture Club. She received a New York Regents Scholar Award, a Phi Beta Kappa Scholarship from Hofstra University and the Hillman Scholarship from the University of Pennsylvania.

Addressing the class at last weekend's graduation ceremonies was nerve-wracking for Karen, but she saw it as a rare opportunity. "I got to say a lot at graduation that I normally could not have," she said. "Not many people get to address the entire class altogether and I got to say a lot of things that I wanted to."

In her speech, Karen recognized all of the many organizations that achieved greatness throughout the year. "One of the big things about our grade is that we were all really involved in community service," said Karen. "I got to mention a lot of the competitions that our grade entered and almost everything we entered, we had winners. I thought that everyone should get the recognition that they deserve."

Karen was greatly inspired by her twin sister Jennifer, both in and out of school. "As much community service and hard work that I did, she did so much too," said Karen. "She was involved in so many school activities and I always had someone with me when I wanted to participate. She taught me how to make the most out of every situation I was in and not only give to other people, but how to benefit from that myself."

In the fall, Karen will attend the Nursing School at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Although she plans to attend medical school after completing her undergraduate studies, obtaining her RN from the school will leave her options open.