By Dan Murphy
Each year, Yonkers Rising is proud to report on the student excellence in Yonkers High Schools by highlighting the Valedictorian and Salutatorian from each HS. The past year has been a challenge for students during COVID, but please enjoy and appreciate the hard work and effort of these students.
Meet the Valedictorian and Salutatorian from Lincoln High School. Kleanthis Plakas is the Valedictorian and will graduate with a 98.91 GPA. He was a member of the National Honor Society, Science National, Honor Society, English National Honor Society, History National Honor Society, Math National Honor Society Treasurer, and played trombone in the School Band.
Extracurricular activities include School Band, Chess Club, Volunteered at Sunrise of Crestwood Senior Living. Academic achievements include the Superintendent’s Honor Society Club 90, High Honor Roll and Principal’s List 2017-2021.
Kleanthis’ favorite teachers are: Emmanuel Tchangou (Pre-Calculus), Kumari Johal (Chemistry), Steven Mulqueen (Finance). He will have completed 7 AP course upon graduation. Accepted into 8 colleges, including Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT, Plakas will be attending Manhattanville College in the fall. His older brother also attends Manhattanville.
Dr. Plakas could certainly be in the future of this young man, as he plans to student biochemistry and become a pharmaceutical scientist, with a love of science and labs.
Kleanthis was able to continue his academic excellence through COVID. During all four years of high school, he was #1 on the GPA list at Lincoln, and he earned it. “I would advise students to focus more on academics for freshman and sophomore year, then focus on their social lives for junior and senior year,” said Plakas, who thanked his parents, “who valued education as #1, that that it should come first. After that I became self-motivated.”
Salutatorian Ledia Hoxhaj will graduate with a GPA of 97.59. School activities include the National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, Social Studies National Honor Society, Math National Honor Society Awards, Honors and Scholarships, the Superintendent’s Honor Society Club 90.
Her favorite teachers are Dr. Johal, Dr. Saghafi and Mr. Tchangou. Dr. Johal teaches CH and AP Chemisty, Dr. Saghafi teaches Science Research and Mr. Tchangou teaches Algebra 2 and Pre Calc. Her favorite subjects are science and math, and has taken 2 AP courses, all while taking care of my brother and tutoring other students in math and science.
Accepted into 12 colleges, Ledia will attend Union College in the fall. “I enjoyed the trip to visit the campus and they gave me a generous financial aid package.”
Hoxhaj only attended Lincoln for two years. She moved to Yonkers and America, two years ago, from Albania. “I have loved these past two years, being part of the Lincoln community. What I like most about Lincoln is that all the teachers I have had were all so supportive. They always went the extra mile to make sure that me and my peers were understanding the classes and that they were always going to be there for us.”
Ledia said that there were some stressful times during COVID over the last year, but she overcame it and the adjustment to speak a new language, and succeeded in high school.
She hopes to become a Pediatrician so that she can help kids. “I’ve had a lot of support from my parents and teachers. And there was a lot of studying involved. My grandfather also set a good example for me.”
Gish-he means grandpa in Albanian. We hope that he gets a copy of this paper. Congratulations!
