FA announces top students

Photo courtesy of Foxcroft Academy
2016 ROSE AWARD RECIPIENTS — Foxcroft Academy recognized the top scholars in the Class of 2016 during the annual Rose Award ceremony on May 4, with the honor recognizing students who have accumulated a GPA placing them in the top 15 percent of their class. Pictured are front, from left, Madison Fadley, Angelina Buzzelli,Gabriela Johnson, Renee Smith, Dylan Harmon-Weeks and Cooper Nelson. Back, Xu Wang, Kai-Ku Hsu, Han-Yu Hsiao, Yun-Ting Tsai, Avery Carroll and Racquel Bozzelli. Not pictured, Antonio Ayala.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — At Foxcroft Academy’s 86th Rose Award ceremony, Head of School Arnold Shorey announced Gabriela Johnson as the Valedictorian and Xu “Michael” Wang as the Salutatorian of the Class of 2016. Foxcroft Academy’s graduation ceremony will be held on Sunday, June 12, at 1:30 p.m. Baccalaureate will be held prior to graduation at noon.

Johnson is the daughter of David and Tonya Johnson of Dover-Foxcroft. She has a GPA of 3.906, has accumulated more than 300 hours of community service, is a member of the National Honor Society and will graduate with 15 college credits. She is an active participant of Key Club and the Peer Mentor Team and has been an integral member of Foxcroft’s swimming and softball teams, serving as captain her senior year.

Johnson will attend Westminster College to study biology, and upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree, she intends to enroll in medical school to pursue a career as a general surgeon. She will also swim at Westminster, where she projects to be one of their leading breaststrokers.

“Foxcroft Academy has given me the tools to succeed,” Johnson said. “I’ve always wanted to go to med school since I was a little kid. Growing up near and around hospitals, that environment propelled me to work to be a doctor.”

Wang, the son of Shan Shi and Lei Wang, was born in Japan and moved to Shanghai, China, at the age of six. He came to Foxcroft Academy his freshman year and has been very involved during his four years, participating in Band, String Ensemble, Key Club and National Honor Society. Wang was also a member of the golf team and was president of the Asian Culture Club and captain of the math team.

Wang’s passions are mathematics and finance, and he will attend the University of California at Berkeley, where he intends to declare a math major. He hopes to one day become a financial analyst.

“At first it was hard for me at FA,” Wang said who speaks English as his second language. “Because of the language barrier and because it was my first time living away from home, it was hard, but the more I used English the better student I became. FA has really good classes, and I could explore studies freely. At FA, I was able to gain the confidence to go to Berkeley.”

Johnson and Wang were two of 14 students from the Class of 2016 recognized as outstanding scholars at the annual Rose Award ceremony on May 4. The Rose Awards were established in 1931 when Frank G. Stone was head of Foxcroft Academy. Rose Award recipients have accumulated a GPA that places them in the top 15 percent of permanent students in their class.

The other rose recipients are Antonio Ayala, Racquel Bozzelli, Angelina Buzzelli, Avery Carroll, Madison Fadley, Jianyu Hao, Dylan Harmon-Weeks, Han-Yu Hsiao, Kai-Ku Hsu, Cooper Nelson, Renee Smith and Yun-Ting Tsai.