Luke Peng and Felecia Cerrato finish at the top of the academic pyramid
Published on June 7th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Tell us, Luke and Felecia, how is the view?
After 18 years, 12 grades, scores of classes, countless exams and endless nights of homework, Stoneham High School seniors Luke Peng and Felecia Cerrato are the ones who get to sit at the top of the academic mountain.
It is a mountain that they've been scaling since the days of kindergarten, when show-and-tell was the only subject for which they had to prepare. Here's something to make the rest of us feel old: That was back in 1981.
Now it's the year 2000, and Peng and Cerrato are the recipients of the MacDonald Medals for the first graduating class of the new millennium. As many proud parents before those of Peng and Cerrato know, the MacDonald Medals are Stoneham High School's way of honoring the young man and the young woman who have the highest academic rankings in their graduating class.
How do the two of them feel about such a scholastic achievement?
"I'm really happy with myself, but this is not something that I've been striving towards all through high school," confides Cerrato. "I've always just tried to challenge myself and my abilities in school, and I'm glad that I've been able to meet these challenges and achieve something."
Says Peng, "Well, honestly, I can't really say that I've achieved it with years of hard work and studying. I mean, I don't think I'm the hardest working student in school, or even the smartest. I'm not saying that I'm lazy or stupid, either. I think that I just used what God has blessed me with. I can't really take too much credit for just being who I am. I guess the credit there goes to my parents and God."
Adds Peng, "I don't think we can or should judge our own self-worth through society's measuring sticks of grades or jobs or money. If a class is hard and the best that you can do is get a C, then you should be satisfied with your work. Receiving a MacDonald Medal is a tremendously flattering honor, but I don't feel as though I should be singled out."
Both Cerrato and Peng, who were born and raised in Stoneham, are preparing to venture well beyond the comfortable boundaries of their Norman Rockwellian home town into that Great Unknown known as college. In less than three months, it'll be roommates instead of siblings, bunks instead of beds, and bland, mass-produced food in the place of Mom's home cooking.
In the fall, Cerrato will be attending Boston University, where she hopes to splice her love of Biology with studies possibly related to genetics or pre-med.
"Biology has always been my favorite subject," she says. "I like learning about life functions and how traits are passed from one generation to the next. I might go into genetics, but anatomy and the study of diseases are interesting too, so pre-med will definitely be an option."
Throughout high school, it was biology that was as easy as the ABCs for Cerrato - - or, we should probably say, as easy as the DNAs. Any subject with even a fraction of math involved was a major plus for her as well.
"Except for physics," Cerrato notes. "That has to be the hardest class I've taken so far. There are just so many formulas and applications. I had to put in a lot of extra effort to do well in that class."
For Peng, the battle over where to attend college this fall was fought between Tufts University and Brown University. Which of these two respected institutions did he choose?
"I chose Brown over Tufts because I didn't want to be with my brother," jokes Peng. Quickly, he adds, "Just kidding. Actually, I chose Brown because it has a better academic reputation."
Peng isn't certain what subject he wants to major in just yet, but he just may try and take a byte out of Computer Science.
"That seems to be where everything is headed," suggests Peng with what could prove in just a few years to be valuable foresight. "I thought of majoring in business because that's where the money is, but then I remembered that I don't really care about money. I'm thinking that I might go into writing fiction or perhaps journalism."
With the exception of his leaning towards Computer Science, it seems that math, one of Peng's strongest subjects, won't be in any of the cards. For that matter, neither will ceramics.
"My most difficult class in high school was definitely my junior year ceramics class," he says. "I shaped and painted and glazed that clay with all of my heart and strength, but I just wasn't good enough! I got a B in that brutal class."
What about when Cerrato and Peng were kids? Did either one of them want to become a zookeeper or an astronaut or the President of the United States?
"When I was younger, I always used to change my mind about what I wanted to be," answers Cerrato. "For a while I wanted to be an artist. Then a doctor. In Middle School I changed my mind again and decided that I was going to be a marine biologist."
And Peng?
"When I was a kid I wanted to be a rich and successful person whose life made a tremendous impact on countless people. I wanted to become famous for my accomplishments. Maybe I would find the cure for cancer or solve some baffling scientific enigma," he answers. "Now I know I'll be content just doing whatever God has planned for me."
Childhood, high school, college . . . what about summer? Specifically, what about this summer? What do Cerrato and Peng have planned for this, the final summer wedged in between the childhood they've known and the adulthood that lies ahead?
It'll be straight to work for Cerrato. At least it should be cool where she's headed - - she'll be answering phones and filing papers at her aunt's and uncle's heating and air-conditioning company. The good news is, the job will be right next to Boston University on Commonwealth Avenue, so she'll be able to keep working throughout the upcoming school year.
"Other than that, I'll probably just hang out with my friends before we all have to leave for college," adds Cerrato, assuring us that it won't be all work and no play this July and August.
Next month, Peng will be going on a short-term mission with his church to Taiwan. While he is there he will help run a bilingual day camp for Taiwanese students.
"I'm excited because this will be my first trip off the continent," he enthuses.
Many firsts lie ahead for Peng and Cerrato and their classmates. For the first time in their collective lives, however, those firsts will be ones that they face apart from each other. For twelve years now, Peng and Cerrato and their peers have been together for the first grade, the first day of every school year, their first dance, their first prom, and so on. As the Class of 2000 prepares for the first day of the rest of their lives, is there anything about Cerrato and Peng that their peers might not know?
Reveals Cerrato, "I do well in school, but sometimes I lack in the common sense department. I have my airhead moments, but at times it's difficult to convince other people that I do more than just study. Sometimes kids just assume that studying is my life. I do well in school because it's important to me, but as a high school student I couldn't spend all my time on school work because I had opportunities to be involved in so much more. People who don't really know me stereotype me as a brain, or something along the lines of that."
Indeed, Cerrato did do so much more than hit the books: She played field hockey and tennis, and she was a cheerleader. She was also a peer counselor and a peer mediator, which she says gave her the opportunity to help other students.
Says Cerrato, "I had the best time with my field hockey team because we all got along so well and were basically inseparable for two months."
And here's a real eye-opener for those who think they know Peng:
"I'm told that I sleep with my eyes open," he offers. "Oh, and I'm also in an acappella singing group."
We know Peng exercises his mind. He also has a strong interest in exercising his body, as well. For "competitive fun," he plays tennis and basketball. On his own, he jogs and lifts weights.
"It has taken me years to mold myself into the embodiment of
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