The 2026 East Hampton High School valedictorian and salutatorian were celebrated at an East Hampton School Board meeting this week for earning top grades and for their achievements in community service, sports, and science.
“We knew in ninth grade how special he was,” Sara Smith, the high school principal, said of Griffin Beckmann, the valedictorian. He was also the valedictorian of his eighth-grade class at Montauk School.
And in what Ms. Smith called a “full circle” event, Griffin was honored unexpectedly with a standing ovation at a recent sport’s night dinner held for Montauk School students.
“He’s literally the president of everything,” Ms. Smith said, listing the National Honors Society, the school newspaper, the art club, garden club, and Key Club. He is also secretary of the Environmental Awareness Club and the student association, and a member of the Long Island Organics Initiative and Athletes Helping Athletes.
He is a founder of the group Montauk Compost, which collects and composts food scraps from local restaurants. In his scientific research, Griffin studied beech leaf disease and its effect on the American beech tree.
“Griffin has an ability to stand squarely in who he is and carry himself with a humility that is an example for all of us — adults included,” Ms. Smith said, adding that he has completed over 750 hours of community service. He was part of the BuildOn student trip to Malawi this year to help build a school in the African country.
Griffin has a total weighted G.P.A. of 104.45 and has completed 12 advanced placement courses. He is a co-captain of the varsity tennis team and the winter track team.
He is still deciding where he will attend college in the fall.
As for the salutatorian, Charlie Stern, Ms. Smith said “the United States would be wise to send Charlie overseas with a peace mission.”
“No matter the obstacle or complexity of a project, he works with the people involved, figures out solutions to problems, and ultimately advances everyone forward and leaves every place better than he found it,” she said.
Charlie has a weighted G.P.A. of 104.24, has 10 Advanced Placement courses under his belt and achieved a perfect score on his A.C.T.
“He has received too many gold and silver awards from East Hampton to name all of them,” Ms. Smith said, naming just a few, world history and science research being the most competitive.
As a junior and a senior Charlie presented at the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair and as a senior participated on the state level.
According to Ms. Smith, Charlie’s research was “particularly impressive” because he had two projects in the pipeline at once — one on the bacteria effects in local water supplies and another on the effects of microplastics on freshwater bacteria.
Charlie was responsible for moving the high school away from single-use plastics in the cafeteria to reusable flatware in 2025. Ms. Smith called it a “very impressive environmental step forward for us as a school.”
He is also responsible for the creation of the school’s peer-to-peer summer math program for middle school and high school students struggling in math.
Charlie is a co-captain of the football team and the track team and was recognized this week as a Division 3 scholar-athlete.
He will attend the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in the fall.