2020 Valedictorian: Halie Every leads Millbrook’s Class of 2020

MILLBROOK — Halie Every started her schooling at Elm Drive Elementary School, and this year, 2020, she completes her primary years of education as Millbrook High School’s valedictorian. By all accounts, Halie has been a great student, excelling not only in her studies, but in sports as well. She participated in lacrosse and in varsity cross country in her junior year; she was captain of the team in her senior year, an honor she especially treasures. She was also on the JV volleyball team and on the varsity cheerleading squad.

Aside from sports and academics, Halie performed with the band and chorus for four years and was actively involved with the Drama Club, the Interact Club and the Yearbook Club. Her favorite subjects have always been math and science — especially math — she likes it for its logic and dependability. Both subjects will help her immensely as she pursues her interest in civil engineering, which she will undertake starting in the fall  at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, if all goes according to plan (not a given with the coronavirus pandemic, of course, but Halie has her fingers crossed). 

Halie is used to challenging herself; she took International Baccalaureate courses in math, chemistry and history. Being a part of the Environmental Club, she said, had a lot to do with her choice of civil engineering as a major in college and as a career path.

There are a lot of things to think about upon graduating, acknowledged Halie, including leaving old friends and making new ones. She said she’ll keep in touch with her friends from Millbrook through Facebook, Instagram and other means. 

And she knows she’ll miss her parents, Heidi and Zane, and brother, Zane. She also has two dogs, Daisy and Barley, but she hopes to visit home often. She’ll have other things to keep her busy as well; she likes to paint and play the ukulele.

Halie said she loves Millbrook, and she feels certain she got a top-notch education in the Millbrook district. Because the school system is small, she said she felt that all of her teachers were “there for her,” in the classroom and “on a deeper level.”

Like most of this year’s graduates, Halie realizes there are traditions she is missing out on, like prom and the traditional commencement ceremony, but she also knows that the administration is taking special care to make this year’s graduation great in spite of the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Millbrook has always been such a supportive and attentive community,” she said. “I’m so grateful to have grown up in a place  like this, and I can’t wait to take all that I have learned here with me in the future.”