Storrs Resident Named Valedictorian at Xavier High School

This article was posted by Elyssa M. Millspaugh. It was reported and written by Cassandra Day.

Xavier High School in Middletown held its 47th annual commencement on Sunday, conferring degrees to 200 young men from towns throughout Connecticut.

Mario J. Chris, of Storrs, was named valedictorian, while Mark K. Breault, of Ivoryton, was named salutatorian. 

Chris ranked first among the members of this year’s graduating class and delivered the valedictory address at graduation on May 19.  

Chris is treasurer of the National Honor Society and vice-president of the French Honor Society. He is a recipient of the Brother Celestine Award for Academic Excellence, qualified as a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and was selected as a winner of a National Merit Scholarship.  

The 2012 recipient of the CT Association of Schools Governor's Scholar Award, Chris also received the highest possible score of 2400 in his SAT testing.  

He is a member of the math team and is the president of Mu Alpha Theta, Math Honor Society. A member of the Engineering Club, Chris has received a number of key awards: the National Award winner in the Real World Design Challenge in 2011, and a member of the RWDC State Championship team for the past three years; Finalists for the International Conrad Awards; won a silver medal at the International Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Project (I-SWEEEP) Olympiad held in Houston, Texas; finalists in the Connecticut Science Fair (CSF) in 2012; in the Connecticut State Level of History Day, won 2nd place in Senior Group Website category; was recognized as Xavier’s finalist in the WrestleMania Reading Challenge 2012. 

Chris was also the recipient of the Yale Book Award. Among his other activities, Chris has been a member of the Ambassadors Club, the Chess Club, the Columbian Squires, the Debate Team, Model Congress, the Ryken Service Society and Students for Life. Chris was accepted at Brown, Cal Tech, Catholic University, Columbia, UCONN, Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, UPENN, Stanford and Yale and plans to attend Stanford with a major in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and a secondary major in Computer Science. 

He is the son of Mr. Ramesh Rangan Pandurangan and Mrs. Sagaya Mary V. Rayappan. 

The second ranking graduate of the class is Mark K. Breault. He gave the welcoming address at the Xavier graduation.  

Breault is a member of the National Honor Society and president of the Latin Honor Society. He is a member of the Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, recipient of the Brother Celestine Award for Academic Excellence, a National Merit Commended Student, AP Scholar with Honor and earned Summa Cum Laude honors in the National Latin exam.  

As a junior he was a member of the Xavier team that won the National 2011-2012 Real World Design Challenge for Surface Transportation. He was a member of the Ambassadors Club, Engineering Club and Ryken Service Society. Breault also played intramural basketball and baseball and attended the Xavier Leadership Institute. 

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Breault, Breault is planning to attend Villanova University with a major in Chemical Engineering. He was also accepted at UCONN, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Rensselaer Polytechnic and Worcester Polytechnic.

For more information on the ceremony, see Xavier High's Web site.