Maris Podgurski, a senior at Thornton Academy in Saco, will be the valedictorian for the Class of 2020. This means that she has achieved the highest grade point average of all the students in her class.
Such announcements are often made known to the school and surrounding community through banner printing.
Podgurski has attended the Academy for seven years and has been an especially high-achieving student. She has specialized in the sciences and taken advantage of the extensive Advanced Placement (AP) and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) offerings from the school and its partnerships with other colleges and universities.
This year, she was enrolled in one English class and four AP courses at Southern Maine Community College. She has also been part of the technical crew for the theater program and been active in Action Team, a community service group. She has also competed on the track and cross country teams.
Podgurski said that her three years at Thornton Academy Middle School and the following four at the high school helped her reach her academic goals and enabled her to be successful. She will be attending Northeastern University in Boston in the fall and to study chemistry, and wants to become a clinical pharmacist so that she can engage with people on a daily basis and remain a lifelong learner.
