WOHS announces 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange High School has announced Celia Murphy-Braunstein as valedictorian and Carlos Herbozo as salutatorian of the graduating Class of 2021.

With a grade-point average of 4.8, Murphy-Braunstein has been active in the sports and culture at WOHS throughout her high school career. She has been on the varsity swim team for all four years and is president of the American Sign Language Club. She is co–vice-president of the Science National Honor Society, and is a member of the Rho Kappa, Chinese, Math and National honor societies.

Murphy-Braunstein is also a member of the Science Olympiad, the Science League and Book Club, and works with underclassmen as a Mountaineer Mentor.

Braunstein-Murphy is looking at Dartmouth and Wellesley colleges and knows she wants to pursue a career in the STEM field, but has not decided on a major.

“I am very grateful for being named valedictorian. It makes me proud of my hard work and my accomplishments at WOHS,” she stated.

With a difference of a 10th of a point, Herbozo was named salutatorian with a GPA of 4.79.

Herbozo is a member of the Math Honor Society, Science Olympiad team, Science Team and Math Team. He is also a Mountaineer Mentor.

Herbozo plays viola for the school orchestra and is a member of the Royal String Ensemble. He was recently named an AP Scholar with Distinction and has volunteered in the summer enrichment program, helping younger students in the orchestra. He plans to major in computer science, but has not decided on a college. 

“I’m immensely honored to be named salutatorian,” he said.

“We are especially proud of our 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian because they have had to face incredible challenges over the past year and have risen to the challenge,” WOHS Principal Hayden Moore said. “They truly epitomize what it means to be a West Orange High School Mountaineer.”

  West Orange High School