Top students look to medicine, international studies

STONINGTON — The two top students of Stonington High School’s class of 2025 share a drive to excel and to improve their community, but also have unique interests that illustrate how each member of the class will forge their own path after Friday’s graduation.

Valedictorian Marina Lewandowski

Marina Lewandowski, 18, said her grandparents are partly to credit for planning to pursue international studies at Boston College.

The senior grew up in Stonington but surrounded by the Italian culture her grandparents brought with them when they emigrated here.

“It’s always been something that interested me,” she said. Lewandowski took several foreign language classes in her years at Stonington High School, and enjoyed them.

She’s not yet sure of where she wants her college education to take her.

“Maybe law school, maybe something in diplomacy,” she said. “All I know is, that path kind of interests me, and I’ll figure it out at school.”

Lewandowski, the daughter of Sarah and Robert Lewandowski, was a star student at Stonington, a CIAC Scholar Athlete playing on the tennis and field hockey teams for all four of her years here.

Off the field, she’s been the class of 2025 president, takes part in UNICEF, is a member of the French and Spanish honor societies, and is part of the school’s Link Crew, an orientation group, and Varsity Club.

Never one to keep still for long, she’s also taught tennis and field hockey locally, worked as a babysitter and nanny and edited a biweekly neighborhood newsletter for the past three years.

“That’s fun,” she said. “I design a page, front and back, and we have a team of neighbors that delivers them.”

Lewandowski is proud of the two state championships the girls’ tennis team won while she’s attended Stonington and was on the team.

“That will definitely stick with me,” she said. “One of the years was with both of my sisters,” Mia and Misha, a fraternal twin who served alongside her as class vice-president also also is graduating Friday.

She also will cherish teacher Ann-Marie Houle, class adviser, as well as softball coach and recent Stonington Educator of the Year.

“She has been a very big mentor to me” she said. “She does so much for this school.”

In her speech for Friday night, she plans to pass along a lesson she learned from her dad.

“That’s about all I can say without totally giving it away,” she said with a smile.

Salutatorian Sam Lund

A California native, Samuel Lund, who said everyone calls him Sam, will not be too far away, at Tufts University. His plan is to study biomedical sciences on a pre-med track, a step toward attending medical school.

“That’s definitely subject to change though, if I find something I like better,” he said.

He took an interest in STEM classes while at Stonington, and got the opportunity last summer to intern at The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich.

“I got to be in the operating room with doctors and the radiology department, talking to patients and staff, and I loved it. It was so interesting,” he said.

He’s leaning toward a field such as anesthesiology or neurology.

“I think the nervous system is super cool,” he said. “Though classes I’ve taken here and learned about that.”

An AP biology class last year proved to be a big influence in his desire to go into medicine.

“We learned so much in it,” he said. “I was fascinated with the inner workings of the body, the cells and all that. Also a psychology class we took definitely piqued my interest too.”

Lund, 18 and a Mystic resident, is co-captain of the tennis team, which won the state tournament the past two consecutive years and was in the state semifinal this year. Outside of school, he’s taken pottery classes the last few years at the Stonington COMO. He’s made “many” pieces, and enjoys the ability to make something out of nothing, he said.

He’s especially proud of efforts in his junior and senior years to bring a food truck to the district, for sports and special events and meals for West Vine summer school kids.

“I was selected to create a business plan, select a menu, reach out to the business population,” he said. “That’s super exciting and great to see it come to life.”

His dad, David, is a researcher at UConn, while his mom, Katie, works in conservation. He has an older sister, Etta, attending school in New York.

He’s going to talk at the graduation ceremony about growth and change, and also the need to hold onto what one leaves behind as well.

“The honor of being salutatorian, that’s huge,” he added.