Laura Tsai is the MHS valedictorian, and William Wang is the MHS salutatorian.
In seventh grade, Laura Tsai and William Wang were the only William Allen Middle School students on the advanced math track in Algebra 1 together. In eighth grade, the pair formed a friendship walking from WAMS to Moorestown High School for their geometry class. Today, the two friends are celebrating a milestone together as Tsai has been named the class of 2018 valedictorian, and Wang is the salutatorian.
“It’s funny how it started out as just the two of us on the math track,” Tsai said.
Tsai will attend Harvard University while Wang will attend the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to making their way to the Ivy League, Tsai has been in the Moorestown school district since kindergarten, while Wang moved to Moorestown in fourth grade. They were in many of the same classes over the years. Tsai took six Advanced Placement courses her senior year, and Wang took seven.
Wang attributes his work ethic to his parents. He said they are hard workers, and he followed their example. He said between school work and his extracurricular activities, much of his time was spent trying to balance an array of activities.
For Tsai, balance was the also the key to much of her success. Because she had time commitments outside of school, she tried to maximize her time and absorb as much information as possible so she didn’t have to teach herself new information at home.
“The key to success is understanding information and processing it as you get it,” Tsai said.
Wang agreed that he utilized a similar approach.
“A lot of it is being focused and paying attention in class,” Wang said of his success.
Outside of the classroom, Wang rowed crew — an experience he said allowed him to grow both as an athlete and person. He said when he started rowing, he was an “awkward” eighth grader, but crew pushed him to his physical limits and bonded him with his teammates along the way.
In addition to crew, Wang was also an executive officer for student council, a member of the Future Business Leaders of America club and an officer for the MHS math club. In his free time, Wang plays the viola and the piano.
Tsai was also quite busy outside of the classroom, devoting almost every weekday to her FIRST Robotics team, the Combustible Lemons. In addition to attending FIRST competitions, Tsai was responsible for the team’s marketing.
She joined the high school’s tennis team her freshman year where she said she found a whole new community and expanded her network of friends. Tsai also served as vice president of the Moorestown Honors and Service Society and a member of Interact and math clubs. On Sundays, Tsai volunteered her time teaching Mandarin to fifth and sixth graders, and she also plays the violin and piano in her spare time.
Tsai’s fondest memories of MHS came during her time in Cynthia Allen’s Latin classes. She said Allen’s zest for the subject and her genuine care for her students was contagious, and she walked away with a passion for the subject. She said on the last day of high school, she and a friend played a “thank you” video they made for Allen. Tsai said both she and Allen became emotional after the video, and she’ll take that moment with her.
For Wang, his senior year Advanced Placement courses were the most transformative. He said while his interests lie in the STEM field, taking Latin, European history and literature courses changed his way of thinking.
“It’s opened by mind to embracing the liberal arts and diversity of thought,” Wang said.
The pair agreed they were shocked to learn they were ranked at the top of the class during senior trip in Disney World. Tsai said they were taken off guard when Principal Andrew Seibel gathered the class together for the announcement at the end of the trip. Tsai said it was an incredible culmination to one of the best weeks of her life.
Looking ahead, Tsai plans to pursue a joint major in neurobiology and applied mathematics. While she’s unsure of what career she’s headed toward, she does know she wants to do medical research on neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer’s disease.
Wang has been accepted into the Jerome Fisher program in management and technology at the University of Pennsylvania. He said he’s also unsure of what job he’s pursuing, but he said he could see himself headed toward Wall Street or Silicon Valley.
Both Wang and Tsai agree, they’ve matured by leaps and bounds since they first walked into Moorestown High School. They said they’ll miss the friends they’ve made along the way — including each other.
