Meet the Class of 2025 Denzel Washington School of the Arts Valedictorian and Salutatorian

While senior students at Denzel Washington School of the Arts prepare for the end of the year and most importantly, graduation, two students are gearing up to lead their class into the real world. DWSA has named Charlotte Watson and Elizabeth deGrandpre as its Class of 2025 valedictorian and salutatorian. 

Check out this fun conversation with Charlotte and Elizabeth to learn more about the valedictorian and salutatorian!

Charlotte Watson, a graduating senior at DWSA, has been named this year’s valedictorian with a cumulative grade point average of 106.6. Charlotte’s high school can be defined by her many accomplishments in visual arts, academics, and community service. 

“I wasn't surprised entirely,” said Charlotte. “I've been at the top of the class, where, I think, for most of high school, but I felt really accomplished when I found out.”  
 
As a visual arts major at DWSA, Charlotte’s schedule is divided into academics, art, and a hefty load of extracurriculars and volunteer activities. She takes five Advanced Placement courses during her senior year, giving her the opportunity to take college-level classes and the possibility to earn credits. These include AP 2D Art and Design, AP Government and Politics, AP Calculus,  AP Environmental Sciences and AP Literature and Composition. 

Charlotte has taken nine AP classes – her favorite being AP U.S. History with Mr. Daniel Wolfe, where she participated in a model UN activity, representing Portugal with a group of her classmates, and debated to avoid global conflicts and war. 

Charlotte has become highly accomplished during her time at DWSA. She has been named on the Principal’s Honor Roll in all four years of high school, has won two gold medals and one bronze during her participation in NAACP’s ACT-SO program competition, has received the Westchester County Youth Service Award, and a youth service award from First United Methodist Church. 

“I feel accomplished,” said Charlotte. “I put in a lot of work. I'm in so many different things. It's nice to actually be recognized for the stuff that I do and for the work that I put in.”

Charlotte takes outside involvement just as seriously as she takes her academics and art. She is a member of SPREP with Columbia University, Smart Scholars, ACT-SO with the NAACP, Junior Achievement, and is a manager for the Mount Vernon Boys Baseball team. With her church, she participates in food drives, packing fresh and canned goods, and also can be found backstage at DWSA, doing set design. She is a member of the Gospel Choir as well. 

Through the ACT-SO program, Charlotte took part in a teen residency for the arts during the fall, for three days, she got 10 hours of studio time a day to work on any art projects at the Bethany Arts Community. 
“It was very helpful,” said Charlotte. “Actually, last year I was like, the first time I got to sit down and just do what I wanted to do with my art, which helped me kind of develop what my inquiry was for my AP 2-D Art and Design class.”

Through being a manager for the baseball team and a teacher in Junior Achievement, Charlotte has learned collaboration and leadership skills.

As a member of her church’s youth group, Charlotte performs community service every two weeks, packing food for food drives and distributing it to patrons

“I love to help people and be a support and a guide for others,” said Charlotte. “So it's the biggest thing that I really value.”

Charlotte has applied to over thirty colleges in the past year. As a member of the Top Ten program, she has gained entry into most SUNY schools that align with her major. She has also gotten into Northeastern University, Wesleyan College, Fordham University, Temple University, and PACE University, among others.

In the upcoming fall, Charlotte will be enrolling as a student at Barnard College with three years of free tuition. She will be majoring in Art History and also plans on taking business classes to broaden her horizons. 

“I was so happy when I got into Barnard,” said Charlotte. “I visited a couple of years ago, and I love the campus. I actually didn't see myself going to school in the city, but when I went there, I was like, I really like this.”

In the future, Charlotte looks forward to building a career in the fashion business and possibly creating an online department store where she can bring accessible and affordable fashion to everyday people. 

“I would tell them to believe in themselves and not to doubt their abilities,” said Charlotte, giving advice to students who want to build their grades and extracurriculars. “I would tell them to trust in themselves, and then ask for help, if they need help, if they need assistance, find people who are willing to help you and be there for you, and lean on them.” 

Elizabeth deGrandpre has been named the DWSA salutatorian for the class of 2025. Her hard work in academics in and outside of school has amounted to a cumulative grade point average of 105.7. 

“I was really happy at the end that I got to be in this position, and that the hard work I'd put in over the past four years paid off,” said Elizabeth. “I just felt proud of myself because I was like, I did this while doing all these other things during school.” 

During her education at DWSA, she has taken eight Advanced Placement courses – four of them being during her senior year. Currently, Elizabeth takes AP Calculus, AP Literature and Composition, AP Environmental Science, and AP U.S. Government. Her favorite of these advanced classes was AP U.S. History due to the thought-provoking discussions and the reading materials students read throughout the course. 

She also recalls taking part in an activity where she had to create a resume for a historical figure. She was assigned Ida Tarbell, a prominent journalist and writer of the Progressive Era, who wrote “The History of the Standard Oil Company.” She also had to play the part of Ida Tarbell and discuss topics with other historical figures. 

“You took a step into history, figuratively and literally, because you got involved,” said Elizabeth.  “It really prepared you that if you saw someone's name on that AP exam, you knew what they stood for, you knew what time period it was, and you knew that if there was an essay, you could talk about this person as an outside piece of evidence.”

Elizabeth is an acting major and has been involved in theater at DWSA since she came in as an eighth grader. She has performed scenes and monologues and also acted as the host for West Side Story earlier this year. She has also written scenes and played in the Winter Carnival. 

“I chose acting, and I've done acting for the past four years,” said Elizabeth. “Not only has it been nice to have a creative outlet and a separation between the math and sciences and the heavy academics, but also it just made me be able to speak more confidently in front of people.” 

Elizabeth loves writing, reading, and creating poetry. She writes about things that impact her or happen in her daily life and uses writing to tell her story. 

Elizabeth is the current team captain of the Mount Vernon Girls Swim team and is very close to her teammates and coaches. She often acts as a voice for her team and is always there to be there for her teammates and offer advice wherever she can. Her favorite moment on the team was the last swim meet, where Elizabeth won first place in both of her races and had personal best achievements. 

“We're a family. We're sisters. We are always there for each other,” said Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth is also a student trustee for the Mount Vernon City School District. She has taken theater classes at Sarah Lawrence College and was a member of a writing program for two years, where she wrote plays for professional actors to perform. 

Elizabeth is also a manager for the Mount Vernon Boys Swim Team, a manager for the Mount Vernon Boys Baseball team, has taught with Junior Achievement, and has received college preparation help from Destination College, a program at Mount Vernon High School that aids student athletes with the college admissions process. At DWSA, Elizabeth is a member of the yearbook club, a member of the costume team for school productions, and was a member of Smart Scholars. She also works as a lifeguard and swim instructor at three separate locations in Westchester. 

“It's a lot, so it's really mostly just about finding your rhythm,” said Elizabeth. “What time do I work? Am I able to take breaks and do some homework? Then, do I have breaks after school where I get home at a certain time, where I know I have three hours at work and do homework, and then also just finding the 30 minutes, or 5 minutes between studying or doing homework, where I just have a moment for myself.”

Elizabeth urges other students to find things they are passionate about and to take on a workload they can handle. 

Elizabeth applied to 29 colleges and has been accepted into Colgate University, Binghamton University, Bryn Mawr College, Fordham University, and Stony Brook University, among others. She will be going to the Rochester Institute of Technology and will be studying applied mathematics and taking part in the performing arts program as an actor. 

Elizabeth has also received approximately $1 million in scholarships from all of her acceptances and has accepted the Presidential Scholarship, the Alumni Scholarship, the Performing Arts Scholarship, and a Recognition Scholarship from RIT. 

Elizabeth plans on becoming a math teacher post-college. She is inspired by all of the teaching and tutoring activities she’s done during high school. 

“I just got so much joy out of it, and I just felt good,” said Elizabeth. “You feel good when the kid that you taught can finally swim or float on their own. I just felt this sense of accomplishment and pride, and I wanted to continue doing this.”