Salutatorian: Maria Santos

By Emma Rathgeber and Elaine Wang

Maria Santos, the salutatorian of the Class of 2023, has left her mark on Garden City High School As a sophomore, she joined the school’s robotics club for the first time. After convincing five of her friends to join, she officially had a team. All throughout junior year, the group poured their hearts and souls into the club, sneaking into the school over breaks and staying many hours after school to finish their bot. That same year, as the club’s president, Maria led her team to win the VEX NYS Robotics Amaze Award and qualify for the VEX Robotics World Championship, making history as the first GCHS team to do so

Maria was busy with more than just robotics in her junior year: she founded the school’s SWENext Engineering Club. As president of the club, she plans and organizes various engineering projects, from building electric circuits to spaghetti bridges Engineering Club holds a special place in her heart, and she recalls the first meeting she ever held, saying, “It was everything I had imagined ”

Not only is Maria an wordddd academic superstar, but she is an accomplished athlete as well. She has been a Varsity Track and Field and Cross Country athlete for all four years of high school, and is a Tae Kwon Do black belt and instructor Other noteworthy accomplishments Maria has under her (black) belt include: four-time National Latin Exam Gold Medalist, two-time Al Kalfus Long Island Math Fair Gold Medalist, Award for Excellence in PLTW Engineering, and the National Hispanic Recognition Award Plus, she is our very own ECHO Assistant Editor While Maria’s passion for STEM is evident in her activities outside the classroom, she has furthered her interests in the classroom as well. Her favorite high school class to date has been Honors Physics with Dr. Slater. She not only loved the many shenanigans that went on in the class, but also enjoyed learning the content itself In fact, there are many high school memories that Maria will miss, specifically the people she’s met along the way: friends, strangers in the hallway, teachers she may never see word again But while she’s sad to say goodbye to some things, she’s very excited for what lies ahead. In December 2022, Maria found out that she had been accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology– a feat that “still feels unreal.” She attended MIT’s Campus Preview Weekend and met many new friends, and is excited to make more in the fall Not only that, but she cannot wait to take advantage of all the academic opportunities MIT offers: internships, research opportunities, and study abroad programs She plans to major in Course 6-2: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, on a pre-law track These fields first interested Maria when she took PLTW Engineering and AP Computer Science Principles in 10th grade. She drew connections between the two fields, and began to wonder about the inner workings of computers, TVs, phones, and other technologies However, she still felt a strong connection to the humanities and knew she wanted to pursue a career in law. Ever since her mother told her about the work of patent attorneys, who often have a wordd

STEM education, Maria realized that was the career she wanted.

If Maria could give one piece of advice to current high school word students, it would be to “find something you love, whether that be an academic subject, sport, or art. Explore it as much as you can and have fun!” The word

ECHO staff are very honored to have worked with Maria for all these years and we wish her the best as she begins a new chapter at MIT this fall