Emma Kavanagh and Campbell Casagrain (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

TUPPER LAKE — Emma Kavanagh and Campbell Casagrain are the Tupper Lake High School class of 2025’s valedictorian and salutatorian.

Besides graduating with the highest grade point averages in their class, the two were heavily involved in school clubs, sports and took on a variety of initiatives beyond the district.

Kavanagh and Casagrain said they had spent their academic journey as part of a close-knit group. Out of a graduating class of 64 students, including three foreign exchange students, they said most of their classes — from seventh grade on — were spent with the same core of about 10 honors students.

Casagrain, the salutatorian, wasn’t really surprised when she and Kavanagh found out they were atop their class. But what made it special, she said, was the support they received from the school community around their achievement.

“The affirmation that people have given has almost made it more meaningful and valuable,” Casagrain said. “People keep making it worth it.”

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Emma Kavanagh

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Kavanagh is the daughter of Lora Kentile and Jessie Kavanagh, both of Tupper Lake. Next year, she plans to matriculate at St. Lawrence University and intends on studying either pre-law or psychology.

Kavanagh said the older she grew, the more she began to reflect on and fully appreciate the various ways her parents sacrificed to provide her with a foundation for a successful future.

“When you’re a kid, it’s always, ‘You never let me do anything, you’re ruining my life!’ you know, the whole teenage melodrama,” she said. “Even when it’s happening, you don’t really realize and appreciate until you get to this point, everything and how much they’ve done for you.”

Throughout high school, Kavanagh was an active member of the National Honor Society, Student Council, Green Team, Class Officers and the varsity soccer team. Outside of school, she was part of the Wild Center’s ClimaTeens and Critical Action Lab fellowships. Kavanagh said it was empowering to be connected with high school students throughout the country, through the museum, focused on addressing the same slate of climate-related issues.

Kavanagh said physics and calculus were her favorite classes in high school, attributing her enjoyment of each largely to two “excellent” teachers — Amy Wilson for calculus and Mikayla Brockway, who is no longer with the district, for physics.

“These are probably not normal classes to say are your favorites,” Kavanagh said with a smile.

She said that while these were both upper-level classes — typically reserved for the honors group of a class — and some of the toughest curricula students will face in high school, it was fortuitous that they just so happened to have some of the district’s best educators to guide them through it.

“(They’re) teachers that pushed to do good and were very motivational,” she said.

Kavanagh said that in physics, Brockway struck a balance between making sure students stayed on track with their work, while not coming across as a drill sergeant. She said this was all the more impressive given that their physics class happened to be Brockway’s first year teaching.

“With a younger teacher, sometimes it can be hard to get respect from students who are only a few years younger than you,” she said. “But she kept us on track and didn’t let us run wild. She gave us the freedom, but also, we got the work done.”

One of Kavanagh’s biggest challenges in school came down to managing expectations. While earning the valedictorian title was an “honor,” the constant pressure to perform at an academic and extracurricular level that comes with such a high level of distinction and busy schedule was stressful at times, which she’s had to manage over the years.

Kavanagh said that in addition to her supporters, she also drew a lot of inspiration from the naysayers and took pleasure in proving people wrong who said she wouldn’t be able to achieve various accomplishments.

“People telling me not to do something makes me want to do it more,” she said.

Asked about her favorite high school memories, Kavanagh grinned and said those were so enveloped in years of inside jokes that they wouldn’t make much sense to anyone outside of her friends and the graduating class. But she did note that they came down to one thing.

“Just a lot of moments with friends laughing at dumb stuff,” Kavanagh said.

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Campbell Casagrain

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Casagrain is the daughter of Mary and Vaughn Casagrain, both of Tupper Lake. She plans to attend SUNY Canton in the fall with the goal of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the veterinary technician program.

“From there, if I complete that and am still wanting to do more, I might go to vet school,” she said.

Casagrain said her parents are her biggest inspirations and supporters. They have instilled a sense of balancing hard work without getting caught up in the slow days that are typically, in retrospect, too insignificant to get upset over. This, Casagrain said, has given her an upbeat outlook on life.

“They’re both people who are very lighthearted and just go through life not worrying about everything,” she said. “I think that’s been one of my biggest pushes and inspirations to just keep living in the moment and keep trying to have fun.”

Casagrain has been an active member of the National Honor Society, Student Council, Green Team, Class Officers and the varsity soccer, softball, track and cross country teams. Outside of school, she was part of the Wild Center’s ClimaTeens and Critical Action Lab fellowships.

Growing up in a small town, Casagrain said she always tried to take full advantage of opportunities to further her education, both in and outside of the classroom. But toward the end of high school, she said it had become challenging to maintain such a robust list of activities.

One of the reasons she continued on with them was that if she and the other community-oriented members of her class didn’t step up, they likely would not have been fulfilled. Casagrain said they felt a sense of obligation to their school and community to ensure that those clubs kept functioning at a high caliber.

“Towards the end, we’re all kind of getting burnt out and we kind of want to just pawn it off on to our other classmates,” she said. “But having to push through and hold that responsibility has been kind of tough and challenging.”

Casagrain also said physics, calculus and Spanish were her favorite classes. Physics was also her most difficult, but echoing Kavanagh, she said Brockway was a large reason for that paradox.

“It had to be the toughest content that we learned, but just the most fun class,” Casagrain said. “Not just because it was fun learning it, but she just made the whole class fun and enjoyable.”

She thanked their Spanish teacher, Nicole Pickering, for being a role model. Casagrain said Pickering has always been a grounding presence for students, offering words of wisdom to their gripes and giving wise advice on school and life in general.

“Even if we come to her complaining about some outlandish thing, she’s always a sound of reason,” Casagrain said.

She noted that physics and calculus grew to take on an aura beyond that of a run-of-the-mill high school class.

“(They) were more than just classes,” she said. “They were very much like a close-knit group.”

Casagrain said her heavy involvement in sports was also a defining feature of her high school experience, and the lessons they taught her stretch far beyond the field or track lanes.

“Sports — everything involving them, like the community they made, all of that was very important,” she said.

Kavanagh and Casagrain will address their class at the school’s graduation ceremony. That’s slated to commence at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27 in the middle-high school gym.