Myess Hammouri and Lathania Williams have been selected as the valedictorian and salutatorian for the class of 2026.
Myess, the valedictorian, has a 99.85 grade point average. Throughout Myess’ four years at Bronx River High School, she has balanced college classes, AP courses and about 147 community service hours. What kept her inspired was striving to be the best version of herself and achieving that satisfaction at the end of everything.
“Ms. G (Starr Giscombe) supported me the last four years and allowed me to open up and become more secure with myself and the person I will become,’’ she said. “Watching her grow from a teacher to an assistant principal was one of the most inspirational things to me.”
She also credits her mom, friends and sisters as her biggest inspirations. “My mom always pushed and encouraged me to succeed,” she said. “My friends supported me a lot by always being there for me and helping me during rough times and my sisters also motivated me and were my role models. I always aspire to be like them.”
“I’m very thankful to all the people who stayed by my side throughout the last four years,’’ she said.
Myess credits her work ethic to perseverance, “I would stay up to study,” she said. “I didn’t compromise or settle for less on anything. If I knew I had to get something done, I’d stay up late to do it.”
She encourages students who need help in their classes to take advantage of office hours offered, “Especially for Regents classes, which I attended very often only when I needed help.”
Lathania Williams, the salutatorian, balanced a wide range of clubs throughout her four years at Bronx River High School while also maintaining a 97.6 GPA. From BAPS dancing to Entrepreneurship club, to BuildOn, she explored a lot of communal related activities. Outside of her community, she also has done CollegeNow since her sophomore year, PGC for both her junior and senior year and has been invited to apply to the National Honor Society.
To keep her motivation, Lathania thanks her family for their support. “Me and my sister are first generation, so my dad always motivated us to work harder,’’ she said. “He’s my biggest inspiration.”
When asked how she kept up with everything academically, she said, “I’d do my own research when work got too hard. I learn best when I go at my own pace and not the teacher’s pace.”
Principal Gregory Fucheck is proud of Myess and Lathania’s success. “They’ve done amazing,’’ he said. “Myess has been worried about her GPA since her freshman year. She’s been doing extremely challenging classes while also scoring high on the Regents.”
“Same with Lathania,’’ he said. “She’s been a really hard worker and conscious of her grades. I’m very proud of them.”
Mr. Fucheck, who is retiring this year, appreciates the timing. “It’s wonderful,’’ he said. “I love this whole cohort; they’re all great. And Myess and Lathania are both some of my favorite students. It feels right that I’m ending with them as top students.”
