Plainedge grads have highest cumulative GPA in 10 years

Diana Benzaquen sat in the front row holding up a bright orange sign for her nephew’s graduation.

But it didn’t say the usual “Congratulations.” It read: “Don’t tell me what to do and we’ll get along just fine.”

“That’s his phrase whenever I tell him to do something,” she said with a laugh.

Benzaquen’s nephew and the rest of the seniors from Plainedge High School took the stage Thursday night at Hofstra University.

A total of 272 students graduated this year. And according to high school principal Robert Amster’s address, this class has the highest cumulative GPA of any graduating class in the past 10 years.

Ninety-two percent are receiving Regents diplomas, and 69 percent are receiving Regents diplomas with Advanced Designation. The class also received a total of $3.5 million worth of scholarship money, beating the record high by $1 million.

But all these achievements, though important to the graduates, were not on their minds.

“I’m really excited, it’s the closure of one chapter and the opening of a new one,” said Lauren Auletta, 18 of North Massapequa.

Auletta is attending Nassau Community College in the fall and hopes to go into medicine.

“I loved it all,” she said about her high school. “It was a great experience and I wouldn’t be able to pick just one memory.”

Amster also talked about choices and the future.

“Don’t make your choices based on reputation or legacy, make your choices that are right, moral, kind and compassionate,” he said. “Because these choices are not legacies, these choices should not be wielded like weapons to shock or hurt or stun.”

He said he would miss the class of 2011 and hoped that they would all remember his words if nothing else.

“You are the accumulation of the choices you make,” Amster said. “In a couple of years, the only one that will live with these choices is you.”