The Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District announced Jillian Zhang as its valedictorian and Chloe Ng as its salutatorian for the 2025 graduating senior class at John F. Kennedy High School.
The district honored the two students on Monday, Feb. 24, and said that both showed academic achievement, leadership, and dedication to their community.
Zhang is the president and co-founder of the heART Initiative which completed five large-scale mural projects across the elementary schools across the district.
She is also the co-president of the Science Honor Society and the first two-term president of the Model UN Club in its 53-year history, a club that Zhang said she joined to improve her public speaking abilities.
She is also a member of the particle physics research team and has won multiple awards throughout her academic career. The district said that Zhang had a 103.6 GPA during her high school career.
The valedictorian said that her family never pressured her and that they have been supportive of her academic adventure.
“Seeing how hard my parents and grandparents work made me want to do well in school,” Zhang said.
Ng said that she didn’t realize that she was being considered for the salutatorian honor.
She had a 103 GPA and is the vice president of community service for the National Honor Society, captain of the Plainview Fire Department Cadets, a Cancer Kids First ambassador and an American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network legislative ambassador.
Ng Chloe is also an all-division varsity swimmer and she was the district’s Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Ambassador as a sophomore.
“I always wanted to work hard just for my own and to give thanks back to my family for giving me the opportunity to be here,” Ng said.
Zhang will be part of Princeton University’s freshman class in the fall and she said she will study civil and environmental engineering. Ng will attend Dartmouth College in the fall and she said she plans to study biomedical engineering.
