Deer Park High School’s Class of 2024 valedictorian and salutatorian are Jordan Trojan and Calvin Nguyen, respectively.

Trojan, a National Merit Commended Scholar and AP Scholar with Distinction, serves as vice president of the Math Honor Society and treasurer of the Italian Honor Society and National English Honor Society, and is a member of the National Honor Society, Science Honor Society and Tri-M Music Honor Society. He was named a Long Island Scholar of Mathematics and earned a perfect score on the AP Computer Science Principles exam. An accomplished Scholar-Athlete, he has competed on Deer Park’s varsity cross-country, spring track and winter tracks as well as the junior varsity soccer team. Trojan will attend Stony Brook University, majoring in mechanical engineering and computer.

Nguyen, an AP Scholar with Distinction, serves as president of the Science Honor Society and vice president of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society, and is a member of the Math Honor Society and National English Honor Society. He is also a 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholar; New York State Seal of Biliteracy recipient for Spanish; National Spanish Examination silver medalist in 2021 and 2022; co-captain of the school’s Science Olympiad team; a member of the Academic Team, Math Team, DECA club and DECA Honor Society; coding leader of the STEM Club; DECA State Career Conference qualifier in 2023 and 2024 and DECA Suffolk County Competition human resource management second-place winner; Deer Park’ representative at the 2024 Long Island BOCES Student Regional Forum; a 2021 Breakfast for Champions world language winner; and a member of the 2023 homecoming court. In athletics, after two years on the junior varsity boys soccer team, he earned a spot on the boys varsity soccer team in his junior and senior years, earning Academic All-County honors for the 2023-2024 season. Nguyen will attend Rochester Institute of Technology, studying through RIT’s combined bachelor/accelerated master’s program and majoring in software engineering and artificial intelligence.

Date Added: 5/16/2024

After a five-year drought, Deer Park High School’s varsity girls track team is back on top, capturing the league championship on their Senior Day. Not since 2019 has Deer Park’s program had such a dominating season in almost all events.

The league dual meet season opened up against the defending league and county champions West Babylon, who were in the midst of an eight-year winning streak. In an instant classic, the Falcons were able to pull out an impressive victory that came down to the last events. Deer Park kept that momentum going and never looked back, finishing their undefeated regular season with a convincing win over Smithtown West. The team’s next stop is the county championship on May 23, where they will be one of the favorites.  
 
Guided by head coach Jim Petti and assistant coach Burke Tomaselli, the Falcons were led by six team captains: Kaliyah Hull (distance), Alex Geosits (400-meter dash and hurdles), Veronica Laguerre (high jump/triple jump), Denise Brown (throws), Dru Tulloch (hurdles and sprints) and Andrea Cayea (pentathlon).

Freshman Chelsea Cornelia was Deer Park’s leading scorer with 65 points, remaining undefeated in the 800-, 1,500- and 3,000-meter races. Cornelia also set school records in the 3k and 800-meter. Sophomore Kayla Beaumont went undefeated in the triple jump and is ranked No. 1 in Suffolk County and top 15 in the state. Geosits remained undefeated in the 400-meter dash and hurdles, and is also ranked No. 1 in Suffolk County. Sophomore Vanessa Cayea was a major factor, scoring points every meet in the high jump and triple jump, and also contributing in the pole vault and long jump. Freshman Ama Asare was second only to her teammate Cornelia for the freshman county lead in the 800-meter. Tulloch led the team in the 100-meter dash and hurdles and the 200-meter dash.
Coach Jim Petti and assistant Coach Burke Tomaselli said:

“This is a special group of girls,” Petti said. “We knew a lot was riding on that first meet against West Babylon, considering how strong they were coming off the indoor season. The girls showed true grit in that meet, and from that point on, we knew we were not losing. We couldn’t have done it without these younger girls coming up and pushing our juniors and seniors to be their best. We decided to spread the girls out and train in different events. We knew we had to make each event a hard out against us. Alex in the 400 dash and 400 hurdles was our biggest move. For a girl that used to run the 1,500 and 800 at such a high level, we were pleasantly surprised that she’d be such a force in the 400. Having Chelsea lock down the distance events, and knowing that Kayla can out jump any girl, Veronica and Vanessa can out jump any team in the high jump, and Denise can out throw any opponent, we knew we had all the tools to win. We broke North Babylon’s nine-year winning streak en route to our league title in 2019, so repeating that by breaking West Babylon’s streak was special. We coined ourselves the ‘Dream Killers.’ You don’t see this much talent on one team very often. We worked hard to bring this program up, but without these girls, none of us would be here.”

Date Added: 5/13/2024

Deer Park High School recently honored the March and April 2024 Students of the Month: Alisha Ahasan was named March Scholar of the Month, Mateo Hernandez Gomez was named March Citizen of the Month, Reza Zorakhsh was named April Scholar of the Month and Chelsea Washington was named April Citizen of the Month.

For the 2023-2024 Student of the Month program, in addition to recognizing outstanding students with the traditional Student of the Month title, Deer Park introduced two distinct categories: Scholar of the Month and Citizen of the Month.

Scholar of the Month honors students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement, a strong commitment to their studies and a passion for learning. It is an opportunity to celebrate the academic excellence of our students.

Citizen of the Month recognizes students who exhibit outstanding character, leadership qualities and a commitment to making a positive impact on our school community and beyond. It is a chance to highlight the remarkable citizenship and contributions of our students.

Date Added: 5/9/2024

The top 10 academically ranked students of Deer Park High School’s Class of 2024 were recognized at the district’s April 30 Board of Education meeting. With their proud families in attendance, guidance staff and administrators honored valedictorian Jordan Trojan, salutatorian Calvin Nguyen and the remaining top 10 ranked seniors: Eadie Liu (third), Kathy Lin (fourth), Stephanie Sheeler (fifth), Evan Attrino (sixth), Fatima Nawaz (seventh), Alexis Lazarte (eighth), Shirley Bhuiyan (ninth) and Kaliya Hull (10th).

“It is with immense pride that I stand before you today to commend these remarkable students for their exceptional academic achievements,” Principal Charles Cobb said. “Each of you is demonstrated not only intellectual proudness, but also remarkable dedication and resilience in your pursuit of excellence. Your hard work and commitment have set a high bar at Deer Park High School, inspiring your peers and the entire school community. Today, we celebrate not just the outcome of your efforts, but the journey that brought you here, a journey marked by late nights, rigorous challenges and an unwavering pursuit of knowledge. As we acknowledge your success, it’s important to recognize that your achievements are a testament to the supportive network around you. Our teachers who guided you, families who stood by you and friends who walked alongside you. As you move forward, carry forward this legacy of excellence and the understanding that with great knowledge, comes the great responsibility to lead, inspire and contribute positively to society. Your futures are undoubtedly bright, and I'm eager to see where your talents and determination will take you next.”

Addressing the students, Board of Education President Donna Marie Elliott said, “What a privilege it is to sit in this auditorium and hear about all your academic and personal successes. God bless you all. Congratulations, and we’re looking forward to celebrating you on graduation day.”

“Congratulations to the top 10 students and their families,” Superintendent James Cummings said. “It is really an honor to recognize them and we are looking forward to all that they’re going to accomplish. I know they are going to make their families, their parents, their friends and Deer Park proud in the future.”

Date Added: 5/6/2024

As their proud families watched with pride, Deer Park High School recognized the achievements of 17 remarkable students at the annual spring Breakfast for Champions on April 17. The dedicated and determined students were honored by administrators and teachers in categories corresponding to school departments as well as principal’s and teacher’s awards. Held in the school’s library, the event featured music from a high school string quintet consisting of Jayme Lipiec (viola), Eadie Liu (violin), Liana Luc (violin), Lorelai Silverstein (bass) and John Susana-Mendez (cello).

Students were honored in the 15 school department categories of athletics (Sophie Joseph), business (Summer Eisenberg), English (Muntazir Mehdi), English as a new language (Maria Tojin Uz), family and consumer science (Nadia Elsergany), fine arts (Kasumi Dennis), guidance (Anaelle Beauchamp), health (Ubaid Iqbal), mathematics (Louis DeAngelis), performing arts (Jaden Carbajal), physical education (Nathaniel Ciuffo), science (Daniel Aguilar), social studies (Sara Garcia), technology (Christopher Pittas) and world languages (Saamir Alfred), as well as the Principal’s Award (Dimaunte’ Gardner) and Teacher’s Award (Georgios Kagiannis-Juliano).

“The students seen here show exceptional conduct and character on a daily basis,” Associate Principal Garret Noblett said. “The stories that we will hear today recognize students for all of their achievement, hard work and accomplishments, and determination to overcome obstacles. We have students who have either worked on achieving their personal best inside and outside the classroom, demonstrate good citizenship or show compassion to help others. Thank you to the parents and families of our champions who play a key role in helping them get to where they are today.”
 
“This is one of those days that really leaves a memorable mark here for us here at Deer Park High School and puts a smile on our faces every year, because it allows us to acknowledge students for a multitude of reasons,” Principal Charles Cobb said. “We have students from varied backgrounds and interests here, and I think this brings everybody together.”

Date Added: 5/1/2024