Meet the top of Malverne’s Class of 2024

There are many impressive students that graduated from Malverne High School last week — but three in particular stood out. Cynthia Kartick and Stephen Wyss were named co-valedictorians, and Gabriela Franco was named salutatorian of the Class of 2024.

Cynthia Kartick

Cynthia Kartick understands that creativity and analyticity are not mutually exclusive — and that’s why her future combines both. She’ll be studying creative writing at Stony Brook University this fall. The major has specialized courses in different writing styles, and Kartick is looking forward to finding her niche. She’s particularly interested in the science writing course.

“Like when I do creative writing, I always research a bunch about it,” she added. “Even the miniscule details. I like planning. I like looking through the articles, and finding out different things.”

This year Kartick won an award for Excellence in Science Research and the Rensselaer Medal Scholarship, which are presented to outstanding math and science students. Last summer, she was accepted into the Adelphi University Pre-College Program, where she completed a summer course on essential computing and coding skills.

In addition to her scientific endeavors, Kartick is a member of the Student Response Club, which focuses on anti-bullying events, the Book Club, and the varsity tennis team.

“I’ve been working hard pretty much my whole life,” Kartick said. “This is a combined effort of both me and my family.”

Stephen Wyss

Stephen Wyss wants to learn as much as he can about the world around him — and he finds he can best do that through math and science.

“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been very interested in stuff like computers,” Wyss said. “I’ve always sort of had this natural affinity toward math and science. It’s always been this natural curiosity for the STEM subjects.”

Wyss is a member of the VEX Robotics team and has competed in robotics competitions across Nassau County. He is vice president of the Scholars Club, and has competed in multiple varsity Quiz Bowl and Mathletes competitions.

“I’ve always been very interested in math and science,” Wyss said. “I’ve sort of taught myself certain subjects, certain topics within that. It’s a good challenge to try and look at different problems — things like Quiz Bowl, trivia, just random knowledge.”

Because of his aptitude for computers, Wyss was selected for a summer internship in the Malverne school district’s Information Technology department, where he assisted the district’s IT specialists as they prepared iPads and other technology for the school year.

Wyss plans to study Chemical Engineering in the fall.

“I’m very happy to be recognized,” Wyss said. “Because I did put in a lot of hard work.”

Gabriela Franco

Gabriela Franco is a scholar, a musician, an athlete and everything in between.

Franco is the trumpet leader in the award-winning Pride of Malverne marching band, and the treasurer of the National Honors society. She’s also a member of the varsity tennis team, and has been recognized as a Scholar-Athlete for the past two years for her success both on and off the court. She received the Most Improved and Unsung Hero awards for her dedication to the sport. 

“Since tennis and band are in the same season, I basically had to run from tennis straight to marching band,” Franco said. “And overall, it taught me a lot about time management — balancing my time and making time for everything that is important to me.”

Franco also received the prestigious National Hispanic Recognition Award, and was selected as a Scholar Program finalist by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund

“It’s very satisfying,” Franco said of being recognized as salutatorian. “It’s really nice to know that everything I’ve done these past years and all the hard work I put in, at least getting close to the top, got me somewhere.”

“I’m definitely proud of myself, and the hard work definitely paid off,” she added. “So it was worth it.”