‘The world is your oyster’

Moorestown High School has selected seniors Meera Sholevar and Luke Steene its valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, for the Class of 2024.

“We were really excited, because it’s really great to see all of our hard work paying off,” Sholevar said of the honor. “I’ve definitely witnessed his (Steene’s) long nights studying, and when you get an award like this, you know everything that went into it and it’s just nice to have some recognition.”

“It’s really wonderful,” Steene noted. “We’ve done a lot of it together, a lot of the late-night study calls, talking about all of the work that we have to do, and it’s just, everything that you’ve been through and worked towards, it all culminates in this and that’s wonderful. And even if it didn’t, it would still be wonderful because something that I always like to say is … ‘You have to focus on the process, not necessarily the results.’

“When I’m going about doing a task or studying or trying to achieve something that I want, I always think, ‘Well, what’s going into it that I’m achieving?'” Steene added. ” … To feel fulfilled with the process of what you’re doing, that will eventually lead to something awesome, but even if it doesn’t right away, you still know that you’re living your best life with that.

“You’re doing what you can.”

Sholevar is president of the school’s Honors and Service Club, co-president of the Spanish Club, a two-year editor in chief of the Nutshell Literary and Arts magazine and a mechanical editor for The Voice school newspaper. She loves math, computer science, volunteerism and writing, among other things.

Steene is a section leader and librarian for the Moorestown High School Madrigals, vice-president of student council, a three-sport athlete (cross country, track and swimming) and a lifeguard at Sunnybrook Swim Club. Throughout his time at Moorestown High, he’s done a lot of research on history and has published two works on the subject.

“The most important thing to know about me is that I really like to help people and I’m very passionate about learning,” Sholevar explained. “ … I love learning, and that’s really what drives me. I love to volunteer. I have a few organizations for people to share their experiences around the world with their gender and sexuality, so I just love helping people.”

“I love to kind of think about, especially urban policy, or policy related to where we live and how we do economic development, building our world around us,” Steene offered. “I like to look at that and see how we can make it better and shape it in a way that works for everyone. That’s really what I love.”

Sholevar will be attending Harvard University in the fall; Steene is headed to Princeton. Sholevar’s advice for the undergraduates? Don’t be afraid of failure.

“If you let it, the fear of failure or embarrassment can be the most hindering force in your life,” she believes. “If I hadn’t overcome my fear of failure and embarrassment, I wouldn’t have taken the hard classes that I did. I wouldn’t have taken the initiative. I wouldn’t have joined certain organizations that ultimately made my life a lot more meaningful.”

Steene is excited to see his peers follow their dreams after graduation and considers it a pleasure to have shared the past four years with them.

“I hope that everyone really works super hard to make whatever they want to happen a reality,” he said. “It’s easy to get a little jaded with things when you’re doing very similar things for all these years, and it’s just going to be a new change of pace …

‘The world is your oyster.”