City officials hosted the 169th Annual George Peabody Medal Award Ceremony, where awards and citations were given to the top eight graduating students at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, at the library last week.
The medals will be given to the students at graduation, and citations from state Rep. Tom Walsh and state Sen. Joan Lovely were given at the ceremony. Members of the School Committee, Board of Library Trustees and City Council were present at the ceremony.
Peabody Institute Library Trustee Frances Bisazza-Gallugi said that graduating at the top eight is a fantastic achievement.
“It takes hard work, dedication, sacrifice, lots of studying, I’m sure your parents are very very proud of you, I know I am,” Gallugi said. “And you should be very proud of yourselves because not everybody graduates top eight, and it is really really an accomplishment.”
PVMHS Principal Brooke Randall said that the students graduating at the top eight of the class of 2024 is so much more than their academic achievements.
“You display excellence in everything you do,” Randall said. “You’re AP Scholars…you’re in the National Honor Society, and you hold positions of leadership in these roles too. Yearbook, Model UN, various academic teams, performing arts with the band and wind ensemble, multiple sports, and of course all the community service that you do.”
The students in the top eight are Theodosia Kourtelidis, Vanessa Kolani, Abigail Bettencourt, Taranpreet Singh, Panayiota Papantonakis, Jake Canuel, Ty Couillard and Jessica Chau.
