Photo by Sarah Schwartz
A LETTER
from the EDITORS
Dear Reader,
We made it to graduation! After four years of joy, stress, fun, hard work, and everything in between, we're !nally here. Maybe it feels hard to believe, or maybe it feels long overdue, but in just a few hours, we'll walk out these doors for the very last time. Pretty crazy stu Congratulations to the Class of 2026!
To our fellow classmates, what a time it has been. We've done our best to !gure out high school and can now con!dently say that we know the perfect approach to living life. Just kidding. But all the moments both inside — and outside — the classroom have taught us more than we can put into words. We crammed for tests, pulled (hopefully not too many) all-nighters, struggled through junior year, skipped ursday afternoon WIN blocks, parked our cars semi-illegally, and senior spring-ed. We'll miss you all, and we wish you all the best.
To our reader community, thank you for sticking with us through the years. ank you to all the teachers, classmates, and community members who sat down with us for interviews and posed for our covers. As the representatives for Newton's only print newspaper (!), we !rmly believe in the critical importance of good journalism — especially hyper-local reporting.
We've done our best to shed some light on the people, places, and entities that make Newton — and South — what they are. Whether you dutifully read each issue cover-to-cover, skipped to the crossword and threw out the rest, or used the pages for papier-mâché, we appreciate your readership.
To our teachers, we can't imagine how hard it is to do what you do in this day and age, but it truly does mean the world to us.
ank you for changing how we think, encouraging us to be better versions of ourselves, and inspiring us to pursue what we love. ank you for all the tangential class discussions and WIN block converstations. We'll miss you.
To the Volume 42 sta , what would we have done without you? ank you for struggling through Adobe InDesign with us. It truly is a monster. ank you for recruiting reporters, pitching article ideas, and sitting through hours-long graphics meetings (sorry!).
From paste-ups in our beloved Rm. 1201 to late nights on hotel room oors at NSPA, we've loved every second that we got to spend with you. ank you for working with us, laughing with us, maybe even crying with us — the community that we built wouldn't be the same without each and every one of you.
To the Volume 43 sta , we can't wait to see everything that you do. We know that you're going to accomplish great things with this paper. Have fun with it! Take risks. Publish what you want to publish. Pursue the topics and stories that interest you. We're looking forward to seeing you win Best in Show in Orlando next year. And before we go, one !nal reminder: never forget AP style — we better not see any Oxford Commas!
In conclusion, thank you for everything. It's been a great run. Turning over the Roar is always bittersweet, but we have full con!dence in the bright future of the paper. We know that it's in very capable hands.
Best of luck to the Class of 2026. We're going to do great things. Here we come!
All our best, Andrew Feinberg, eo Younkin, Sarah Schwartz & Ava Ransbotham
Volume 42 Senior Sta
Congratulations
CONGRATULATIONS
DYLAN FRASSICA
& the class of 2026
The Frassica Family
Zayna Habibty, Mazel Tov!
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young
-BobDylan
Con t�nte amore, Bab�,
Congratulations, Ally!
Your hard work and perseverance have paid o!, and we could not be prouder of the incredible young woman you have become. Keep dreaming big, believing in yourself, and embracing every opportunity ahead. Always remember how loved you are. We can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’ll do in college and beyond!
Love, Mommy, Dad, and Jonny
We are so proud of all that you have accomplished! We can’t wait to see where your future leads!
Love,
Mom, Dad, Catie, and Corbin
Mimi, Had�ssah, Alisa, Al�n, Abby, Ad�h, Elodie, Sophie
1 in 462: grad speaker Ranya Almedhychy
Ava Ransbotham Managing Editor Emerita
Senior Ranya Almedhychy might have won Most Nonchalant in the yearbook, but she’s not always as relaxed as she seems. Before going on stage for her graduation speech audition, she said she was feeling anything but nonchalant. “I get so nauseous. I literally go non-
verbal, so I’m not naturally a public speaker, but I force myself to public speak all the time,” she said. “Before my audition, I de nitely was nervous. Once I got up there and started my speech, I de nitely got a lot better. I’m just an anxious gal.”
Even after she was chosen, Almedhychy said that she was still anxious — and also surprised at being selected.
“[My speech] was a lot more lighthearted and funny, and not as serious, so I didn’t think I was going to get chosen,” she said. “And then I think that the panel liked the change.”
Ellie Shim, Almedhychy’s girlfriend, said that she was able to strike an e ective balance between humor and sobriety in her speech.
“People are going to really love it because it's funny, and it's also very re ective over one's high school journey, which is nice for people to remember where they came from and how we've all gotten together as a grade now,” she said. History teacher Corey Davison, who taught Almedhy-
chy sophomore year, said that the humor of her speech will bring the audience closer to each other.
“Humor is a really interesting thing because what you're basically doing is pointing out the border of a social norm to a group of people, but when you're doing that, you are necessarily getting everyone to re ect on their common social identity,” he said. “Choosing to actually have a speech that is funny, what you are doing is implicitly reminding everyone of the community that you've created.”
While Almedhychy’s speech has a lighthearted tone, its message isn’t any less important. She said that she always tries to embody the kindness that she promotes in the speech.
“Obviously you try to be a good person, but I really do think I go out of my way to be nice and understanding and helpful to other people,” she said. “Something that high school has made me realize is that I was put on this earth to be a helper, to help other people.”
Almedhychy’s friend senior David Rosemberg said that she earns that title of helper every day in big and small ways.
“Ranya is the rst person to pick up when you have a question about any class, she's the rst person to check in on you. And she's also so good at reading a person, so she knows when you're up for her to poke fun at you, or to have a competition, and she also knows when it's time to just talk,” he said. “ at's what makes her such a great friend, because it feels like she knows you for who you are.”
Davison, who chaperoned the Prague Spring Trip that Almedhychy attended this year, said that her ability to instantly connect with her peers is an asset to every classroom.
“She orients the class towards what is
the actual authentic goal of education, which is forming relationships with each other to be curious about, and then discover the world,” he said. “She reminds everyone that you can laugh at yourself, and we can all laugh at each other, and we can laugh at the world, but we can also still deeply care about each other and about the world.”
As Almedhychy’s former debate partner, senior Anya Kopinja said that she has seen both the funny and the driven, hardworking aspects of her personality.
“It's funny because I met Ranya freshman year in math, and right away she was the goo est person I'd ever met, right? en seeing her take that sort of serious side through debate was always a little bit crazy, because she just locked in. She's just Ranya, and then all of a sudden she's talking about geopolitics,” she said.
One of Almedhychy’s other big involvements has been with South’s online newspaper Denebola as editor-in-chief. Junior Leah Greiner said that Almedhychy has always been a mentor for her throughout her time in the club, especially as Greiner steps into her place as Denebola’s new editor-in-chief.
“I've been asking her for a lot of help because I really trust her opinions and her vision for the club,” she said. “She had a lot of big goals, and she really worked hard to leave a strong legacy at Denebola.”
As for the legacy that Almedhychy will leave behind at South as a whole, she said that she wants it to be a continuation of all the relationships she’s formed during her time here.
“I want to be remembered as someone who, in a school like Newton South, didn't always put academics rst, and maybe put human connection rst,” she said.
photo and graphic contributed by Ranya Almedhychy
California
UC Davis
Aaron Lirio
Ines Paulo
UCLA
Boston Bulis
Kennedy Kranenburg
Ellie Shim
Sanjana Tewari
Loyola Marymount Univ.
Sammy Elliott
Graham Perkinson
Max Shifman
San Diego State UNiv.
Beckett Shrier
USC
Georgia Finkelstein
Claremont McKenna College
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Santa Clara Univ.
Lindsay Glass
Of They Go
Senior Plans
International
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Tao Allan
Zayna Barakat
Jacob Beitner
Leia Dotan
Lily Kugell
Kenton Leacock
Owen Li
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Hugo O'Halloran
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Maya Sahbti
Ethan Santos
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Elias Carr
ShinWon Chang
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Gap Year
Logan Nairn
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eda Varelmann
Other
Alana Aurisma
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Janylson Monteiro
Quinn O'Shea
Emily Portnoy
Nathan White
Colorado
Univ. of Colorado
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Will Mack
Summer Montgomery
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Univ. of Denver
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University
Plans 2026
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Turok
Ohio
Pennsylvania
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WashU
Tennessee
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Florida
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south carolina
Unv.
LOuisiana State Univ.
Of They Go Senior Plans 2026,
Maine
Colby College
Nicholas Foran
Gri n Rosenberg
Mimi Skali Lami
Vermont
New Hampshire
Middlebury College
Anna Kinney
Dashiell Martin
Ottmer
Connecticut
Sacred heart univ.
Kiera Quinlan-Nardella
Wesleyan University
Hana Futai
Jane Tremaglio
Yale University
Emily Frawley
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Roger
Rhode Island School of Design Angelina Tian
Maya Agam Ranya Almedhychy
Andrade
Samantha Birindjian Brian Chin
n Dandrea
Dasilva
Edelist Eva Falkenstein
Frassica
Bentley University
Daniel Grusby
Ishan Jathar
Simon Makarov
Vicky Zou
Lynn Bahansi
Matthew Li
Kitzis Maria Kuenerz De Aguiar
Linden
Jonathan Mathew
Reece Rootman
Axl Scheufele
Rohan Sita
Wheaton College Dominic Sperrazza University of Massachusetts Amherst
Nina Elizabeth Smy Erik Sternlof Katie Sun Irem Ulusoy
Melissa Unger
Minya Wang
Alex Wu Jae Yoo
Kiril Zhdanov
Brandeis university
Elliott Benedetti
Peyton Du
Ronen Heimlich
Maggie Liu
Kasture
Max Stober
Matthew Luxama
Noam Nakash-Kadener
Ethan Peller
Babson college
Armine
Quinsigamon college
Colman
Wentworth Institute of Technology
College of the holy cross
Emma Oliphant
Lesley University Malina Wong
Szeto
Worcester Polytechnic
Can Aksu
David Demchenko
Evan Gan
Pax Nataraja
Kylie Ma
Boston University
Haochen Ma
New York University
Gavin MacDonald
Syracuse University
Magot Mach
Boston College
Alexander Maciejuk
Stonehill College
Will Mack University of Colorado
Boulder
Charlotte Maehr
Gap Year
Minghao Majumder
Case Western Reserve University
Samuel Makarian
UMass Lowell
Simon Makarov
Bentley University
So a Maklin
Charley Margolis
University of Maryland
Leo Markman
Columbia University
Cameran Martin
Gap Year
Dashiell Martin
Middlebury College
Dylan Martin
Assumption University
Maria Martinez Moreno
Babson College
Ethan Matas
Colby Sawyer College
Jonathan Mathew
UMass Amherst
Reid Matzkin
University of Micgigan
Kyna Maypole
Boston University
Keira McAllister
Lasfayette College
Tess McDonald
Syracuse University
Rory McGovern
Bowdoin College
Libby McKeigue
University of Georgia
Niamh McMullan
Villanova University
Will Melanson
University of Michigan
Emmalyn Merritt
Northeastern University
Eva Meshalkina
Massachusetts College of Arts & Design
Lia Meshalkina
UMass Amherst
Jared Mi
Brown University
Netta Miller
Claremont McKenna College
Emma Miner
Harvard University
Sean Mitchell
Melody Moktar
University of Glasgow
Janylson Monteiro Tradesman
Summer Montgomery
University of Colorado
Boulder
Wes Moore
University of Virginia
Callum Morgan
Syracuse University
Alexander Morrison University of Rochester
Becca Morrow
University of Maryland
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University of Wisconsin
Madison
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Babson College
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Purdue University
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Northeastern University
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Noam Nakash-Kadener
Brandeis University
Pax Nataraja
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Cora Neate-Harris
Howard University
Katarina Nedeljkovic
UMass Amherst
Madison Neel
Clark University
Kiana Negahban
Matei Negroiu
Boston University
Vira Nikolenko
Adam Nir
Purdue University
Alexander O'Brien
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Jame O'Connell
UMass Amherst
Tadgh O'Donoghue
Boston College
Hugo O'Halloran
University College Dublin
Aya Okaniwa
Boston University
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College of the Holy Cross
Drew O'Neill
DePaul University
Quinn O'Shea
Cj O'Toole
Indiana University
Charlotte Ottmer
Middlebury University
Kelsey Papa
Curry College
oria Papadopoulos
Bunker Hill Community College
Neel Patel
UMass Amherst
Ines Paulo
University of California, Davis
James Payton
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Marin Pearlstein
University of Tampa
Julian Pek
UMass Boston
Ethan Peller
Brandeis University
Ellie Peng
University of Michigan
Graham Perkinson
Loyola Marymount
Pablo Polanco Heyaime
Emily Portnoy
Maya Poscover
Syracuse University
Jess Power
Boston College
Scarlett Priddis
Queens University
Julia Primak
Ethan Qian-Tsuchida
Cornell University
Keira Quinlan-Nardella
Sacred Heart University
Erez Rabbi
Emory University
Ritu Raghavendra
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Ava Ransbotham
Georgetown University
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Pace University
Roshan Rasalingam
University of Rochester
Ollie Rice
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Eidyn Riggs
Clark University
Rey Rivera Cruz
Hyeonsu Ro
Will Roaf
Gap Year
Aiden Roberts
Binghamton University
Shanelys Robles Ramirez
Reece Rootman
UMass Amherst
Cheyanne Rosal
UMass Boston
David Rosemberg
New York University
Gri n Rosenberg Colby College
Yasmine Royfman
Paulina Royfman
University of Miami
Aria Rubino
University of South Carolina
Evie Ryan
University of Connecticut
Kia Saeyan-Ovici
Maya Sahbti University of Edinburgh
Jacob Sakayeda
Northeastern University
Ariana Samudio
Saint John's University
Emily Sant University of Tampa
Ethan Santos Concordia University
Akshay Sayana-Dudani
Northeastern University
Lauren Sayers
University of Wisconsin
Madison
Natalie Sayers
College of William & Mary
Eli Scharf
Bowdoin College
Axl Scheufele
UMass Amherst
Connor Scho eld Colgate University
Sarah Schwartz
Lily Shapiro
Ohio State University
Yoni Shavelsky
University of Michigan
Simon Shi
University of Connecticut
Max Shifman
Loyola Marymount
University
Evie Shih
University of Wisconsin
Madison
Ellie Shim
University of California, Los Angeles
Danny Shinchuk
Johns Hopkins University
Andrew Shmelev
Case Western Reserve
University
Gracie Short
Beckett Shrier
San Diego State University
Ira Singh
Harvard University
Adrian Sirotin
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Rohan Sita
UMass Amherst
Mimi Skali Lami Colby College
Jonathan Slopak
Corbin Smith
Boston University
Nina Elizabeth Smy UMass Amherst
Nathan Solomon
Indiana University
Hans Solorza
New York University
Jake Spector
Tufts University
Dominic Sperrazza
Wheaton College
Dylan Spicer
Samantha Spiegel
Syracuse University
Neta Spigelman
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Noah Sprung
Syracuse University
Vishwa Srinivasan
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Noah Sta ord
Isabella Starkman
University of Denver
Isabelle Stephen
University of Bu alo
Erik Sternlof
UMass Amherst
Max Stober
Berklee College of Music
Katie Sun
UMass Amherst
Diya Sundaram
Rutgers University
Chloe Sussman
University of Chicago
Abby Szeto
Isabella Szeto
Framingham State University
Nathan Szeto
Asuka Tago
Anja Talvitie
Paige Taylor
Virginia Tech University
Christian Teichmann
Purdue University
So a Telio
University of Pennsylvania
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University of California,
Los Angeles
Anika omas
American University
Angelina Tian
Rhode Island School of Design
Lia Tilman
Jane Tremaglio
Wesleyan University
Jacob Tubman
Tulane University
Emanuel Turok
University of Wisconsin
Madison
Nathaniel Turok
Gap Year
Irem Ulusoy
UMass Amherst
Meryem Ulusoy
American University
Drew Unger
University of Colorado
Boulder
Momo Unger
UMass Amherst
Nama Vardi
Elon University
eda Varlemann
Gap Year
Harry Venter
Tulane University
Charlotte Vincent
University of South Carolina
Mariia Vorokhib
So a Waltuck
Tulane University
Emily Wang
New York University
Minya Wang
UMass Amherst
eodore Wang
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Oliver Weiss
University of Michigan
Joelle Weldon
Providence College
Dustin Whitaker
Boston University
Miranda Whitaker
Washington University in St. Louis
Nathan White
Tradesman
Joshua Whitney University of New
Hampshire
Johann Wong
Tufts University
Malina Wong
Michael Wong
Rochester Institute of Technology
Alvin Wright
Bethune-Cookman
University
Jayden Wright
Salem State University
Eli Yacovi
University of New Hampshire
Sophia Yan Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gordon Ye
University of Michigan
Jae Yoo
UMass Amherst
Koji Yoshida
Boston University
Sophie Yosubash
Purdue University
eodore Younkin
Williams College
Alex Yu
Cornell University
Abby Zandman
Skidmore College
Eyal Zeldich
Boston University
Nancy Zeng
Indiana University
Mariam Zhaichybekova
Jian Zhang
Angela Zhao
Kiril Zhdanov
UMass Amherst
Ksenia Zhdanov
McGill University
Ethan Zhen
Xinqi Zheng
University of Pittsburgh
Jessica Zhu
Tufts University
Emily Zisow
e Ohio State University
Matthew Zoll
Champlain College
Vicky Zou
Bentley University
University
Emily Perman
Northwestern University
Leo Pettenuzzo
Boston University
Northwestern University
Norah Serra
University of Maryland
Colorado College
Jonas Tamm
Angela Tao
Alexander Wu
UMass Amherst
Yuxuan Xiang
Meet the '26 senior cup nominees:
Each year, teachers and members of the graduating class nominate seniors for the Senior Cup, an award recognizing those who show excellence in service, leadership and scholarship. The Roar asked each nominee to reflect on their time at South and offer advice to other South students.
Owen Butler
"Be who you want to be right now. Don't wait for it to get easier or for you to have less work. e work's never going to stop."
(Winner)
Harvey Chen
"Just be kind and nice to everyone. I think I was happy spending time with my friends in high school. My biggest regret is not focusing enough on the classroom."
Jeffrey Ling
"I’m happiest about the growth that I’ve had from coming into South, especially from those around me who have pushed me to question more and think critically about my motivations and actions."
Rory McGovern
"Follow what you're interested in... if you do things just because you think you should, you'll never end up as happy as if you do them because you want to."
Sarah Schwartz
(Winner)
"I’m happiest about the kind, funny, and just actually incredible people I’ve met over the years and who’ve become my friends. I’m also happy about how I’ve stayed true to myself through it all."
