TROY, N.Y.>> A group of 290 students graduated over the weekend as part of the Troy High School Class of 2017.
The school’s 158th commencement ceremony was held on Sunday afternoon at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, where some of the students will continue their education this fall.
Of the nearly 300 graduates celebrated on Sunday, 63 of them were recognized as honor graduates.
The class’s top academic honorees were salutatorian Madelin Brown and valedictorian Finnian Jacobson-Schulte. Both plan to attend college in the fall; Brown at Cornell University in Ithaca and Jacobson-Schulte at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology near Boston.
Among the colleges and universities where the Troy High School Class of 2017 students will further their studies are local schools Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Russell Sage College, Skidmore College, Siena College, University at Albany, The College of Saint Rose and Sage College of Albany, as well as some much farther away like the University of California, Berkeley.
Others like Hsuang Aye, who wore a special United States Marine Corps sash over his gown for the ceremony, with join the country’s armed forces.
Speakers at Sunday’s commencement event, which was a joyous celebration for many, included principal Joseph Mariano, Jacobson-Schulte, Brown and Sabrina Wolfe, first prize winner of the annual Louis H. Gross Award in Public Speaking.