They're truly the best and brightest graduates of Western New York's high
schools this year.

Their report cards are virtually flawless. Their schedules are crammed with
university-level courses. Their scores on Regents and College Board exams
are perfect or nearly so. Their so-called free time is replete with school
and community activities.

They're the 100 members of Business First's 2009 All-Western New York
Academic Team.

High schools throughout the eight-county region were invited to nominate
their smartest and most skilled seniors for evaluation by a 10-member
committee. A total of 388 students were submitted by 110 schools.
(Nominations were limited to four per school.)

The First Team consists of the 25 seniors who, in the committee's opinion,
have the strongest records of academic excellence, school leadership and
community involvement. Twenty-five runners-up constitute the Second Team,
and the remaining 50 hold Special Mention designations.

Full details will be available in Business First's 2009-10 Guide to Western
New York Schools, which hits newsstands Friday. Highlights are also
available at the newspaper's website: buffalo.bizjournals.com.

The Academic Team's talent is made evident by a quick roundup of
accomplishments:

Class rank: Fifty of the 100 members are valedictorians. The other 50 all
rank in the top 4 percent of their graduating classes.

Courseload: The typical honoree tackled seven college-level courses while in
high school. Twenty-nine winners took nine or more.

Regents scores: High school students in New York must pass five Regents
tests to earn a diploma. The passing grade is 65. The 100 Academic Team
members did considerably better, posting an average score of 96.5.

College Board scores: The 25 seniors on the First Team have a median SAT
score of 1,520, which ranks among the highest 1 percent of all College Board
scores nationwide. The Second Team is close behind with a median of 1,500
points (out of a possible 1,600).

Awards: Twenty Academic Team members, including 15 First Teamers, hold the
coveted title of National Merit Scholarship finalist. About 15,000 finalists
are chosen nationally from a pool of 1.4 million seniors.

Leadership: Included among the 100 honorees are 12 class presidents, 17
editors of school newspapers or yearbooks, 30 members of all-county or
all-state bands or choruses, 40 captains of sports teams, and 44 presidents
of student clubs and organizations.

This year's Academic Team is made up of seniors from 71 different high
schools. Six schools are represented by three students each: City Honors,
Clarence, Nardin, Nichols, Orchard Park and Williamsville North. Another 17
schools have two honorees each.

Selections were made by a panel of 10 college admissions directors,
community leaders and editors:

€ Donna Collins, senior editor, Business First

€ Christopher Dearth, admissions director, Fredonia State College

€ Lesa Loritts, admissions director, Buffalo State College

€ M. Rogan Morton, partner, Schroder, Joseph & Associates LLP

€ Ann Marie Moscovic, admissions director, Canisius College

€ Tim O'Shei, managing editor, Business First

€ Jeffrey Ross, executive director, InfoTech Niagara

€ Kathy Saunders, admissions director, Niagara County Community College

€ Lisa Scherer, president, Junior Achievement of Western New York

€ Jeff Wright, editor, Business First

Committee members cast their votes after reviewing summaries of each
student's official transcript, College Board and Regents test scores, awards
and activities. The selection process was blind, with each senior identified
solely by a number. Nominees' names and schools were removed from all forms.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

2009 ALL-WESTERN NEW YORK ACADEMIC TEAM
(EACH HONOREE IS FOLLOWED BY HIS OR HER SCHOOL)

FIRST TEAM
Megan Baker (Lockport)
Neha Bakhai (Williamsville East)
David Ban (Williamsville East)

Nick Brown (City Honors)
Spencer Brucks (Kenmore West)
Esther Buckwalter (Alfred-Almond)
Grace Cannon (Akron)
Cary Chester (Alfred-Almond)
Joelle Crabtree (Eden)
Isabel Farhi (Nichols)
Sabrina Gill (Nichols)
Kevin Gramza (St. Joseph's)
Brad Hahn (Williamsville South)
Katherine Konvinse (Letchworth)
Nicole Morreale (Lewiston-Porter)
Kelly O'Brien (Niagara Falls)
Keren Rohe (Fillmore)
Emily Rutter (Clarence)
Mitchell Steiner (Griffith Institute)
Meredith Stone (Nardin)
Mary Stottele (Sacred Heart)
Mary Kate Thielman (Mount St. Mary)
Ramkumar Venkateswaran (Williamsville North)
Mariam Vonderheide (Wellsville)
Sophie Wang (Williamsville North)

SECOND TEAM
Jennifer Andrews (Randolph)
Courtney Brown (Williamsville South)
Andrew Dianetti (Lancaster)
David Fortman (St. Joseph's)
Emily Foster (Ellicottville)
Enjoli Hall (City Honors)
Clara Hess (Park)
Andrew Horvatits (Clarence)
Veronique Irwin (City Honors)
Jennifer Johnson (Orchard Park)
Krista Kellner (Griffith Institute)
Steven Kraska (Bishop Timon-St. Jude)
Aimee Lindner (Holland)
Ronald Malone (Newfane)
Petra Martin (Williamsville North)
Ben Meyer (Nichols)
Bryan Murzynowski (Kenmore West)
Casey Schroeder (Royalton-Hartland)
Jillian Smith (Buffalo Seminary)
Lydia Strand (Falconer)
Caroline Tolli (Lockport)
Curtis Wassum (Orchard Park)
Jennifer Werbitsky (Nardin)
Laura Ziegler (Clarence)
Anna Zimmerman (Iroquois)

SPECIAL MENTION
Cari Aldinger (Alden)
Ken Babcock (Pembroke)
Seokho Bang (St. Francis)
John Barrett (West Seneca East)
Julia Bender (Hamburg)
Nicole Borner (Starpoint)
Boris Brimkov (Fredonia)
Jeffrey Bulger Jr. (Cassadaga Valley)
Braden Czapla (Lancaster)
Angela Czesak (Pioneer)
Chelsea Davis (Jamestown)
Joe Dechario (Chautauqua Lake)
Rachel DeMayo (Lewiston-Porter)
Joshua Donovan (Niagara-Wheatfield)
Christina Douglas (Sacred Heart)
Scott Ferguson (North Tonawanda)
Beth Fischer (Notre Dame)
Ashley Flynn (Kenmore East)
Ali Glover (LeRoy)
Meredith Graber (Mount Mercy)
Melissa Graham (Mount Mercy)
Brian Grosso (Portville)
Kelsey Hill (Byron-Bergen)
Tara Hudson (Panama)
Daniel Jaremko (Allegany-Limestone)
Christian Kanaley (Hamburg)
Ryan Lamberson (Allegany-Limestone)
Maria Lesinski (Cheektowaga)
Forrest Mager (Warsaw)
Adam Meier (Akron)
Kelly Metz (Attica)
Charlene Meyer (Grand Island)
Soyeon Moon (Buffalo Seminary)
Stephen Mugel (Amherst)
Emily Olmstead (Sweet Home)
Brandon Podyma (Frontier)
Jessica Reisdorf (Alexander)
Jessica Runk (St. Mary's)
Lauren Schwarzenholzer (East Aurora)
Kaitlin Skelton (Batavia)
Zachary Sliwa (Dunkirk)
Debbie Sobczynski (Depew)
Chris Stahl (Fredonia)
Stephanie Suddaby (Orchard Park)
John Truong (Maryvale)
Leah Umfrey (Nardin)
Jamie Wasielewski (Depew)
Thomas Wight (Cuba-Rushford)
Mike Witte (Olean)
Erin Young (Maple Grove)