Stephen Grello and Juliana Stellwag have been named valedictorian and salutatorian of Delran High School’s 2019 class. To obtain this recognition, both students had to work exceptionally hard, maintain focus and sacrifice for the greater good.
According to Delran’s valedictorian, Grello’s competitive nature is the reason he was able to reach the top of the student rankings. Despite participating in many clubs, student council, volunteering and playing soccer as a sophomore and junior before running cross country and track as a senior, Grello’s competitive nature always spilled over into the classroom as well.
“Prior to coming into high school my freshman year, I really didn’t know where I stood in the class rankings,” said Grello. “In the summer after freshman year, the school posted the class rankings online for any student to check. I saw that I was ranked second and at that point my competitive nature wouldn’t just let me be second. I had to be first.”
“I started taking all the classes that I needed to,” Grello continued. “The classes consisted of a lot of AP and Honors. Looking back, I feel like the hard work paid off. I made a lot of sacrifices, but it was worth it.”
Upon graduation, Grello will be heading to Northeastern University in Boston to major in international business. The ability to compete in a business career and experience different cultures while doing so is something that has intrigued Grello and led him to this decision, although, it’s something that Grello first experienced at Delran.
“Delran is a small, tight-knit community, but regardless of your interest, there’s always something in the town or a club at school that allows you to find your group of people that share the same interest,” said Grello. “With me being in a lot of clubs, I was able to experience a lot of different things. This past summer, I was able to study abroad in Spain. Since I was able to do that from Delran, the community and the business background of my parents kind of led me to that path that I’m taking in college.”
Delran’s salutatorian, Stellwag, will be attending Rowan University and will major in its Chemistry Honors Program. The connection that Delran provide to its students with Rowan will make the transition a lot more comfortable, according to Stellwag.
“High school was pretty great for me,” said Stellwag. “I met a lot of great people here and I’ll miss it. One of the things that I’m definitely going to miss is homecoming. That’s definitely an event that we look forward to every year. It was a pretty big deal, but I will also miss my teachers that I had here.
“Part of the reason why I decided to major in chemistry is because of the teachers I had,” Stellwag continued. “My teachers at Delran were helpful, sometimes they would stay after with me just to help my finish work, but I think they prepared me well for the next step.”
According to Stellwag, Delran has a close connection to Rowan University. The college credits that Delran offers and the overall size of the student body made choosing Rowan easy. Outside of the fact that both of her parents attended Rowan, Delran has made looking toward Rowan even more special. However, Stellwag believes the best about the journey in Delran is that she was able to cap it off with being named the class salutatorian.
“I was very happy when I found out that I was the salutatorian,” said Stellwag. “We kind of knew that it was going to happen since they update the rankings every year, but for me to officially be named salutatorian, it was still very exciting. It’s something that’s always going to be with me and I can tell people in the future that I was the class salutatorian.”
