She is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. Miskunas was a dedicated member of the Rocky Hill High School newspaper (The Broadside) as the entertainment and managing editor and a contributing writer. She also was a National Merit Scholarship Qualifier and deemed a Commended Student in the National Merit Program. She received the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal Award. And, the list goes on!
Although some might expect such a busy and accomplished student to be serious all of the time, Miskunas has a warm personality, a great sense of humor and positive attitude. A pivotal point in Miskunas' high school career was the New Orleans Relief Trip in February with a group of 16 other students for Habitat for Humanity. Miskunas was impressed by the warm reception by the people who were grateful they were there to help. Her time was spent hammering nails in doors, putting up window frames and making walls. Miskunas worked with her group of classmates on one home for four days. She expressed, "the epitome of community service is giving someone a home. How do you get better than that? I didn't expect this experience to be so rewarding - but it was."
One of Miskunas' passions is music. She has played the piano under the guidance of Rocky Hill piano teacher Lean Tan for nine years (since she was 8 years old) and her "feet couldn't touch the pedals." Miskunas views her piano playing as a "personal hobby, not something I do for school or anything formal. It is a personal release. I play because I want to and it is very relaxing for me."
She is an outstanding Volleyball player, on the team for all four years. She was defensive Player of the Year and earned a Varsity letter this year. She won the "Will to Win" award and was in the Northwest Conference All Academic and Summer Camp League. Miskunas said the team was more than a group of athletes but rather a great group of friends who she will miss as she graduates and moves on.
Throughout her high school career, Miskunas has found time to give back to the community as a teacher for Bible study at St. James Church, tutoring in math and Spanish, and playing piano for the residents of Bridges on the Green. She has also organized a clothing drive for Prudence Crandall Center for Women and volunteered at Hershey's Track and Field.
Miskunas is also a modest person, eager to point out the strengths of others.
She said recently, "There are many talented kids at our high school, amazing artists, athletes, band members and more. They also need to be recognized."
Miskunas will pursue her academic interests when she attends Providence College in Providence, RI in the fall.
Close behind in the Class of 2009 is Caitlin LeMay. LeMay has far too many academic accomplishments to list here, but when LeMay was asked to describe a pivotal high school experience, she referred to the Manchester High School Leadership Conference she attended this past fall. LeMay went as a member of Rocky Hill High School's Student-Athlete Leadership team. She said the experience "opened her eyes" to life beyond Rocky Hill and she learned a lot about improving school spirit and community and is looking forward to branding out and going on to school (at Villanova University in Penn.) to meet new people.
While visiting schools, she said, "The Villanova atmosphere was so welcoming and had everything I wanted."
It was her first choice. LeMay is acquainted with life beyond Rocky Hill because her older sister, Meaghan, attends Georgetown University in Washington, DC and has shared the excitement of moving on to higher education. LeMay will miss her younger sister, Kirstin, who is a junior at RHHS. Three sisters just three years apart make for some very close bonds!
Among LeMay's interests are interior design, advertising and public relations. She told me she likes the creative process and thinks that she will seek a major in communications specializing in public relations.
LeMay's passion was the newspaper. She was the sports section editor and worked many hours on editing, lay-out design. She appreciated the process of creating an interesting stories and using satire (appropriately) in articles.
"It was always rewarding to see other students reading the newspaper after we had put so much work into it," she said.
LeMay's favorite part of high school was her sports experiences. She was also on the volleyball team with Miskunas for four years serving as freshman team captain and Varsity captain. She received Rookie of the year Award her freshman year and Most Valuable Player in her junior year. LeMay spoke about her team mates as friends and said, "Our team, especially the seniors, was close."
Despite her busy academic and sports schedule, LeMay found time each year to join hands with many of her school mates to participate in the Lend-A-Paw community volunteer day. She was also an Invention Convention judge, participated in a church youth group and the Seton Summer Spirit Bible Camp for three years.
LeMay excelled in tennis as well and played all four years, serving as captain her senior year. Here, LeMay also received many awards and accolades including All Conference Award, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable player. She spoke about her tennis partner, Rachel Rozewski, with whom she battled together on the court for many games. She said many tennis partners speak often to each other on the court but she and Rachel never had to say anything.
"We just always had a sense of each other on the court," she said.
LeMay added the icing on the cake was when "we went to the Northwest Conference tournament for doubles and last year we were runners up. This year, we won and that was a sweet note to end on."