Foundation News

Alexandra Shehigian graduated from St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in 2021 as the valedictorian. While in high school, she served as Co-President of the Drama Club, for which she directed the Fall 2019 production of Darcy and Elizabeth, a stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Alexandra was also a core captain for her school’s freshman orientation program. She was also a member of the Nora Cronin Presentation Academy Mentorship Program, as well as her school’s chapters of the National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, and Tri-M National Music Honor Society. Additionally, she was a student researcher for her school’s science research program, conducting two studies examining the effects of viewing blockbuster movies dealing with historical events on high school student’s retention of accurate historical information. She is also an active member of her church, Trinity Lutheran Church in Hicksville, New York, and volunteered as a Sunday School teacher throughout high school. Alexandra has also volunteered with the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association since 2020, where she has assisted the Curator with various projects related to cataloguing and researching items in the museum’s collection. Most recently, she contributed to an ongoing project of researching and writing biographies on significant figures in the Birthplace’s history. Alexandra now attends Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where she is studying Public History and working in the University Archives.

Congratulations Alexandra!