Valedictorian Ciarra Lee and salutatorian Ryan Radcliff looked back at their favorite memories from their four years of high school.
For Burlington Township High School 2017 valedictorian Ciarra Lee and salutatorian Ryan Radcliff, high school was way more than just academics.
Both graduates were athletes, both were involved in student government and National Honor Society and both said they built enough memories to last a lifetime.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Radcliff said a few hours before graduation. “It’s just another day to me now.”
Lee has been at the top of her class at Burlington Township for all four years of high school. She found out she would be named valedictorian the morning before last Tuesday’s graduation.
“They announced it in the gym,” she said. “It was something I kind of expected, but I also didn’t at the same time.”
Lee wanted the focus of her speech to not be on herself, but instead her classmates.
“I didn’t want to focus on me,” she said. “That was my main concern.”
Radcliff also wasn’t 100 percent sure he would be salutatorian until just before graduation.
“Over the weekend, I felt pretty confident, but you still have a little bit of nerves,” he said. “There’s a lot of smart people in my class.”
Both students recalled their first day at Burlington Township High School. Lee said she was excited to start high school her freshman year.
“I was ready to move forward,” Lee said. “I thought high school was the coolest thing ever.”
Radcliff admitted he was a little nervous entering high school for the first time. He was most worried about getting off the bus at the wrong spot at the high school.
“The think I was most afraid of was, there’s two spots for students to get off the bus. I was so afraid I would get off at the wrong one and I would be so lost.”
Both Lee and Radcliff were heavily involved in activities in high school. Athletically, both played sports, with Lee captaining the girls tennis team her senior year and Radcliff playing soccer as well as track and tennis.
Lee was involved in a myriad of activities. She served as the student government president her senior year, was a member of NHS, the editor-in-chief of the school yearbook and president of the high school’s book club.
Lee said she couldn’t pick one activity as her favorite.
“I really enjoyed everything because I met so many people in each activity,” she said. “Those are all my best friends.”
Radcliff was also involved in student government and NHS. He also participated in the school’s Red Cross Club and was a math tutor during his senior year. Radcliff tutored two freshmen in geometry and algebra two.
“I was a tutor this year, which I didn’t think would be much fun, but being able to help a younger student was really fulfilling,” he said.
While Radcliff’s favorite subject in school was math, Lee fell in love with Spanish at Burlington Township.
“When I first came in freshman year, I took Spanish III,” she said. “In Spanish III, you only have to speak Spanish and the teacher speaks Spanish. I was amazed with how the teacher was talking, because she didn’t grow up in a bilingual family.”
In the fall, Lee will attend Cornell University, where she plans to double major in sociology and big data. Lee said her long-term goal is to eventually go to law school and become a lawyer.
“Cornell has been my favorite college since my sophomore year,” Lee said.
Radcliff will attend the University of Connecticut in the fall and major in actuarial mathematics. Radcliff decided on the major after attending a camp at Lebanon Valley College following his junior year and developing a passion for the field.
“It was such an amazing experience to live on a college campus and be with kids who want the same experience,” Radcliff said.
Both Lee and Radcliff are sad to turn the page on Burlington Township High School, but both acknowledged they realize they have to move on.
“I’m going to miss my friends, but I think I’m going to miss the familiarity the most. I’m so accustomed to going to Burlington Township High School,” Lee said. “Now that I have to go to a new environment, it’s going to be a shock to me.”
“It’s hard to say that I’m going to miss a certain thing,” Radcliff said. “I know I’ll miss it as a whole, but I know I have to move on.”
