Washington to graduate 90 seniors
Washington High School will graduate 90 seniors Friday during commencement beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the high school stadium. Valedictorian is Asa Charnik, and salutatorian is Alexander Volper.
Charnik, a son of Janine Butterfield of East Washington, has received a merit scholarship to West Virginia University, where he plans to major in biochemistry and become an anesthesiologist.
While in high school, Charnik lettered in football for three years and baseball for all four and served as captain of both teams. He was named this year to the Washington-Greene Sports Hall of Fame. In addition to athletics, he was on the peer jury his sophomore and junior years. He also was an essay winner in the Teen Outreach Black History Month essay contest. As a sophomore, he starred in a school video that won first place in the IMPACTED Inc. video contest, winning highly sophisticated helmets for the football team.
He worked with the Leadership Academy on the Toys for Tots program and activities in the elementary school, such as the “2nd and 7” Reading program. He was named one of the senior Students of the Month in October 2020.
Volper is the son of Olga Solovieva and Dmitri Volper, both of Washington.
He played soccer throughout high school, and tennis in his sophomore and senior years. COVID-19 canceled the 2020 tennis season. He has volunteered for the Toys for Tots program, Rise Against Hunger and Produce for People, a local program of the Greater Washington County Food Bank. He has been involved in the Venturing program of Boy Scouts and has assisted the iBelieve Foundation. He was a Senior Student of the Month in November 2020.
Volper has received a Tuition Exchange Scholarship to attend Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he will major in biomedical engineering. He plans to obtain his masters and/or doctorate before entering the biomedical field.