Meet Newmarket High School's top 10 students in the Class of 2023

NEWMARKET — Newmarket High School has announced the top 10 students in its Class of 2023.

Sophia Yim

Sophia Yim (valedictorian) will attend Brown University in the fall to study mechanical engineering. She is excited to get involved with the design workshop and the Formula SAE racing team, as well as serve in the Air Force ROTC.

Sports, clubs and awards: Junior and National Honor Society (7th through 12th); UNH Youth Symphony Orchestra (11th and 12th); Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra Youth Ensemble violinist/mentor (9th and 10th); First Robotics (9th and 10th); Model United Nations (11th and 12th); Teen Tutors (10th-12th); Mathematical Association of America AMC 10/12 competitor (10th); Boston Leadership Institute: Applied Physics & Engineering (Summer 2021); Portsmouth Library Chinese Discussion Group (9th and 10th); LoisLab Portsmouth, NH Machine Learning & Data Science workshops (9th); SST Pre-Engineering Program (9th); Dual Enrollment at Great Bay Community College (10th and 12th); Dual Enrollment at Manchester Community College (12th); Dual Enrollment at the University of New Hampshire CATS Program (12th); NH Scholar and NH Stem Scholar recognition; Harvard Book Award (11th), Xerox Award For Innovation and Information Technology (11th); and Academic Excellence in US History Award (9th).

Community service: Over 200 plus volunteer hours: Newmarket Teen Tutor middle/high school math, Newmarket High School events, National Honor Society events (food pantry collection, leaf-raking, local thrift store, Breast Cancer Walk), Net Zero roadside cleanups, numerous Newmarket Recreation Center events.

Favorite memory: Kiefaber’s physics class.

Lilla Bozek

Lilla Bozek (salutatorian) will attend Dartmouth College in the fall to major in biological sciences with a minor in theater.

Sports, clubs and awards: NET Zero (10th through 12th); New Hampshire High School Democrats (10th through 12th) Newmarket’s Class of 2023 vice president (9th through 11th) and president (12th); The Newmarket Interact Club (9th through 12th) and president (12th); Newmarket Teen Tutors (11th and 12th) and president (12th); Student representative, Newmarket School Board (11th and 12th); National Honor Society (11th and 12th); National Technical Honor Society (12th); Tri-M (11th and 12th); SST Student Ambassador (12th); Drama and Improv Club (9th through 12th); Model United Nations (11th and 12th); National Merit Scholar (12th); Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen (12th); NH Poetry Out Loud State Champion (10th), and Published in Under The Madness Poetry Magazine (11th and 12th).

Community service: Between volunteering for community events and getting involved with local politics, she has accumulated over 200 service hours. Trick-or-Canning still tops her list for best volunteer experience.

Favorite memory: The math closet.

Quill Burke

Quill Burke will attend the University of Washington in the fall to study environmental science.

Sports, clubs and awards: National Honors Society (10th through 12th); Student Council (12th); Student Government (9th through 12th); NET Zero (10th through 12th), Drama/Improv (9th through 12th); Model UN (12th); Newmarket Democrats (12th), and Prom Committee (10th through 12th).

Community Service: U8 Softball Coach (since 2015), Middle School Softball Coach (since 2022), National Honors Society (30 volunteer hours per year) and Newmarket Travels the World at Tanzania (2018), and at Peru (2022).

Favorite memory: The math closet.

Alexia Catalano

Alexia Catalano will attend the University of New England in the fall to study social work. She plans to play DIII Rugby at UNE.

Sports, clubs and awards: New Hampshire Youth Rugby (9th through 12th) and Captain (11th and 12th); National Honor Society (11th and 12th); Improv/Drama (9th through 12th); Student Council (10th through 12th) class president (9th through 11th), class vice president (12th); Interact Club (9th through 12th), Model United Nations (9th through 11th) and president (11th); Civil Air Patrol (9th and 10th); NET 0 (11th and 12th); Project Search (12th); Seacoast Science Center Marine Science Fellowship (12th); Student Council Award (10th and 11th) and Eagle Impact Rugby Academy Ireland 2022 Tour.

Community service: Blood drives, Trick or Canning, leaf raking, Newmarket Cares Day, roadside clean-ups. She also works at Aroma Joes.

Favorite memory: As an independent painting project, Eliza Noon painted flowers in my hair with hair dye. She shaved my head in class and dedicated a full afternoon to creating a painting on my head.

Ava Crumb

Ava Crumb will attend St Lawrence University in the fall to study government. She hopes to become involved in student government.

Sports, clubs and awards: Student Council (9th through 12th) and vice president (12th); Student Government (10th through 12th) and treasurer (10th through 12th) Model UN (10th through 12th) and president (12th); Drama/Improv (9th through 12th); National Honor Society (11th and 12th); and High School Democrats (12th).

Community service: Provided services with the National Honor Society, and at Newmarket’s Historical Society. She has worked with Great Bay Kids Company for two years and worked with Edison Research to assist with the town election and midterm election.

Favorite memory: One of my favorite high school memories is from my freshman year when a large portion of the high school walked out in solidarity with our former principal. I was not a member of this walkout but did pass them in the pouring rain upon being forced to evacuate the building due to a construction worker hitting a sprinkler pipe and effectively flooding the old wing of the building.

Holly Fermon

Holly Fermon will attend the University of Vermont in the fall and major in molecular genetics with a minor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. She plans to either be a walk-on to the UVM Track Team or join the Running Club.

Sports, clubs, awards: 603 Equality Intern (12th); Varsity cross country, indoor, and outdoor track (9th through 12th); President of the National Honor Society (10th through 12th); National Technical Honor Society (12th); Interact Club Secretary (10th through 12th); NET Zero (11th and 12th); Seacoast School of Technology Student Ambassador (11th and 12th), Project SEARCH (12th); Young Women’s Leadership (11th); and Student Council Class of 2023 Representative (10th). 2023 NHIAA and NHADA Scholar-Athlete Division 4 & State Winner; Hamel Scholar Award; 2022 Student Sage Scholar Recipient; Division III State Champion - 4x400m Relay; Academic Initiative - Pre Calculus; Academic Excellence - Economics & Civics; Academic Initiative - Algebra II; Academic Excellence - Western Civilization; Academic Initiative - Spanish II; Academic Excellence - Consumer Science; First Place - Racial Unity Art Contest 2021; Academic Excellence - Algebra I, Excellence - Digital Illustration and Design; Excellence - Literary Analysis for English I; Highest Academic Achievement - Spanish I; and American Legion Award – American Legion Department of New Hampshire.

Community service: Intern for 603 Equality and lead an initiative, working with the administration of Newmarket Jr./Sr. High School, to create a Student Support Resource Sheet. Created portraits and inspiration pieces for children of Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Russia as part of the Memory Project. Other community service includes a food drive, Send a Smile Card Making Event, Interact fundraising projects, Animal Care Student Volunteer and Camp Counselor at the NHSCPA. She also volunteered at Newmarket Food Pantry and has worked with customer and food service.

Favorite memory: Winning Division 3 Outdoor Track 4x400 relay at states 2022 with a new school record, Project SEARCH Boda Borg Trip, Prom 2022, attending women’s rights and environmental rallies, and a cross-country trip to Pittsburg NH 2019.

Payton Hock

Payton Hock will attend the University of Delaware to major in elementary education.

Sports, clubs, and awards: National Honor Society (11th and 12th) and vice president (12th); Student Government (10th through 12th) and historian; Student Council/Public Relations (12th), Newmarket Environmental Team (11th and 12th) and social outreach (12th); Interact Club (11th); Young Women’s Leadership (11th); Yearbook (12th), Art Class at The Art Room (9th through 12th) and Academic Excellence in Spanish 3 (11th)

Community service: Halloween Haunt, Making Strides Walk, leaf raking, NASA Reception, roadside clean-ups, The Memory Project, Send a Smile Event, blood drives, Valentine’s Day cards for the Pines, Parent Child Date Night, making NET Zero posters, making bracelets to raise money for Ukraine, Newmarket Cares Day, Freshman Orientation, Trick or Canning, craft fair, and helping to get donations for NHMARF.

Favorite memory: My favorite memories from high school were math hut and my senior year advisory.

Jason Robillard

Jason Robillard will attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall to study statistics.

Sports, clubs and awards: Varsity soccer, Captain (9th through 12th) and Coach’s Award 2022; Varsity track and field (11th and 12th) and Coach’s Award 2022, and Student Athletic Leadership Team (12th).

Favorite Memory: My favorite memory from high school was freshman year when all my friends and I collected juice bottles we could buy during lunch. Every day, we would all buy one and keep them all in one locker. In the end, we had to empty out the locker and throw them all away, but we ended up collecting over 100 empty juice bottles.

Jameson Senesombath

Jameson Senesombath will attend Wentworth Institute of Technology in the fall to study industrial design

Sports, clubs and awards: JV soccer (9th); JV basketball (9th); cross country (10th); track and field (10th and 11th); Varsity basketball (10th through 12th) - Team Captain and Coach’s Award (12th); Student Athletic Leadership Team (11th and 12th), Boys Leadership Team (11th), and Yearbook Club (12th)

Community service- Jenju Boba Tea (2021-2023), Open House Guide (2021-2023), roadside clean-up (2022), and NET Zero Community Clean-up (2022)                                                                         

Favorite memory: Knocking Epping out of the 1st round of playoffs during the 2021-2022 basketball season.

Pachak Souphakhot

Pachak Souphakhot will attend Wentworth Institute of Technology to study cybersecurity.

Sports, clubs, awards: Band (9th through 12th), and swimming (12th- Coach’s Award).

Community service- He has been employed at Fire and Spice Bistro for the past three years.

Favorite memory: All the times I’ve slept in class.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Newmarket High School names top 10 students in the class of 2023