Seniors say farewell to District 155

Cary-Grove High School senior Lisa Menendez wants her friends and fellow graduates to know that the education they received in the last four years will serve them well in the future.

About 460 Cary-Grove seniors received their diplomas Saturday during the school’s graduation ceremony.

“It is kind of sad to leave friends and everything,” said Menendez, who will study accounting at Notre Dame. “But it is a new step in our lives, and we need to take that step to continue on.”

Menendez, the school’s valedictorian, earned a 4.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

Salutatorian Kristen Cantieri, who will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s business school, said graduation is a celebration of what students have accomplished in and out of the classroom.

“During our senior year especially, even though the academics got harder, I think our class took a big step socially.” Cantieri said. “I saw a lot of friend groups break down barriers and start talking with random people. That has been my favorite part of the last four years.”

Prairie Ridge

Students from Prairie Ridge High School, which also held its graduation on Saturday, will be represented at colleges and universities both at home and abroad. Students have been accepted to top institutions like the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University, as well as the American University of Paris and the University of Western Ontario.

The high school graduated 405 students, which included a number of students who earned all-state recognitions in athletics and performing arts.

The school’s valedictorian was Bianca Brach and Allison Brachmann was named salutatorian.

Crystal Lake South

And students from Crystal Lake South High School, where there were 490 graduates Saturday,

will attend colleges and universities in 25 states.

The 2011 class included three National Merit Commended students, 64 Illinois State Scholars and one student who never missed a day of high school. In addition, 61 students earned academic all-conference honors for participating in athletics and maintaining a 3.5 grade-point average.

That includes the class salutatorian, Marianne Collard, who will attend Cornell University as a member of the varsity track team.

Valedictorian Edward Wu will go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.