The top two Montgomery High School graduates credit a lot of their success to the support and encouragement of their families and teachers at Montgomery High. Valedictorian Catherine A. Dunaway, 18, said her parents, Marcus and Sharon, have encouraged her to achieve her personal best each day, and have been awesome and supportive of all her efforts. From her sister Madeleine, 20, a student at the University of North Texas, Dunaway said shes learned the power of organization and time management and always knows she has a friend to turn to. Salutatorian Vir S. Mehta, 18, has been inspired by his parents, Sanjay and Gurinder Mehta, to pursue a business career in hopes of one day becoming a professor of business just like them. They are both professors in the business school at Sam Houston State University. Mehtas grandfather was also a professor. My parents are probably the two people who have had the biggest impact on my high-school career, Mehta said. Mehtas sister, Tara, a sophomore at Montgomery High, is also at the top of her class. Mehta will study business at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall. Dunaway will study bioengineering at Rice University in … Continue reading →

Editors note: This is the another in a series of profiles highlighting members of the Class of 2014 at area high schools. Eighteen-year-old Samantha Burns is quick to point out that almost no one calls her that she prefers to go by Sam. Im an engineer, I like efficiency, she jokes. Sam, a bioengineering enthusiast, has spent the past two years in a molecular biology lab alongside researchers at Florida Gulf Coast University on an antioxidant gene study. Burns began attending FGCU as a dual-enrollment student starting her junior year at Lely High School. Its been exciting being able to have a foot in both Lely and a foot in FGCU because Ive been able to represent Lely at a lot of FGCU events, she said. While not involved in daily life at Lely for the past two years, Sam was able to serve as a co-captain for the schools mock trial and moot court program, leading Lely to place as the top Collier County school this year. She was recently awarded as Best Witness for the Defense and Best Attorney for the Prosecution in the school district. I really loved Lely, Sam said. You definitely feel like theres this … Continue reading →