Jesuit's Tri-Valedictorians

Friday morning (May 22), a caravan of Jesuit representatives led by school president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. departed from campus to make three special deliveries.

The recipients: Jesuit's three Valedictorians for the Class of 2020, Bennett Andersen '20, Riley Buchanan '20, and Spencer Farfante '20 (Farfante is pictured on the homepage with his family). They each received a giant banner congratulating them on earning Valedictorian honors.

The trio of academic standouts all took the maximum number of AP classes while making straight As throughout their four years at Jesuit, each earning a 4.66 GPA.

They also excelled in many other areas in addition to academics. Farfante and Andersen, who have been in school together since preschool, helped establish a local chapter of support for the SpeakUp 5K, which benefits and raises awareness for teen depression and anxiety. Buchanan was president of Key Club, Jesuit's award-winning service club.

Andersen and Farfante were starters for Jesuit's basketball team, which captured the District Championship for the 9th straight year this season. Buchanan earned a lead role in every Jesuit Masque stage performance during his four years, as well as Superior ratings at District and State thespian competition.

Farfante and Andersen are both headed to the University of Florida's Honors College, where they will both major in Engineering. Buchanan, who became the first high school student on the Board of the Gasparilla Film Festival, will major in Film and Television production at the prestigious School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riley Buchanan '20 and family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bennett Andersen '20 and family