Congratulations to Gorton High School’s 2022 Valedictorian Elham Al-Shareqi and Salutatorian, Kwadwo Osarfo-Akoto. Elham Al-Shareqi will graduate with a 100.12 weighted GPA.
Her favorite teachers are U.S History/Government teacher Stephen Frum and English teacher Catherine Marinello. Both helped me in many ways.
“My favorite subject is English. English has helped me grow as an individual by developing my literary skills since my first language is Arabic. In addition, I enjoy reading, writing, and analyzing texts and English class has helped me improve on all of them.”
Elham has taken nine College Link courses and she helps volunteer at her local Mosque. “I am a Quran
tudent teacher and during the holy month of Ramadan, I’ve organized fundraisers with everything we collected donated to different charities.
Elham’s life story includes emigrating to the United States nine years ago and teaching herself English. Now she is a Valedictorian and fluent in English and Arabic. She is currently engaged in clinical rotations at St. John’s Hospital and will graduate wiht 27 college credits towards her Health Information Technology Associate’s degree from Westcchester Community College, and enjoyes traveling, cooking, writing, journaling, painting and reading.
Al-Shareqi was accepted to six universities including Columbia and Harvard! She will be attending Pace University in the fall. “My plans academically speaking will remain the same. I will continue to strive to be on top, ambitious, and hardworking. With that, I hope I can graduate from Pace University at top of my class. In addition, that will open many doors and opportunities for me to become a cardiologist. Before medical school, she plans to major in Health & Medicine/Human Resources/Nursing.
Elham enjoyed her time at Gorton. “Charles E. Gorton High School is one of the best schools. During these past four years, I’ve had teachers and friends who have helped me in many ways not just academically, and I will forever be grateful for them. “
Any advice for future Valedictorians? One piece of advice I would give to all students is Set high personal and academic expectations for yourself and live up to them. The work will get difficult sometimes but do not lose motivation. Settle for nothing less than your very best and if you’re not satisfied with the results work harder.
Gorton Salutatorian Kwadwo Osarfo-Akoto will graduate with a 98.,96 GPA. He has completed six AP and College Link courses. His extra-curricular activities include My Brother’s Keeper, YPIE Scholar, YPIE Debate Team, Creator Club, and a member of the Gorton HS Baseball Team.
Kwadwo’s awards include the University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Award, the Yonkers Historical Society American History Recognition Award, and a YPIE Debate Team Winner.
Community Service and Work Church of Pentecost USA volunteer assistant technology manager and advisor, and a Camp Ray’s counselor in training.
Osarfo-Akoto likes fixing computers and started a free repair service at his church. He also enjoys solving Rubik’s Cubes, is a red-black belt in Taekwondo. His other interests include Japanese culture and the stock market.
Kwadwo was also accepted into Harvard, Yale, Columbia and NYU. He will be attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the fall.
