By Ella Franzman – Editor-In-Chief

Jonathan Law senior Natalie Morrell was recently named Valedictorian for the Class of 2024. 

Morrell will be attending Brown University and plans to major in Biochemistry with a focus in Molecular Biology. 

“I was overjoyed to find out I was valedictorian, as it was exciting to hear that my work over the past four years had paid off,” Morrell said. 

This marks the 10th consecutive year a female has been named Valedictorian at Jonathan Law.

“Natalie is a quiet, humble and an extremely hardworking student,” Law Principal Mr. Darcy said.”She is a nationally recognized athlete, she has taken just about every AP course there is, and works extremely hard in everything that she does. Most importantly, Natalie is kind to all, she is a leader in our building and helps any student who needs it.”

Over Morrell’s time at Law she took 13 Advanced Placement (AP) classes: Government & Politics, Human Geography, Language & Composition, Statistics, Environmental Science, Biology, Calculus BC, US History, Computer Science Principles, Literature & Composition, Chemistry, 2-D Art and Design, and Psychology.

Morrell is also a four-year varsity and Academic National All-American member of the Law gymnastics team.

“My most memorable moment at Law was probably my first high school gymnastics season,” Morrell said. “I met so many of my friends through this and got to enjoy gymnastics in a different setting for the first time, all while pushing myself to improve in the sport and further enjoy it with friends.”

Over the past four years, Morrell has also been involved in numerous clubs, including Science Club, Crochet and Knit Club, Science National Honor Society, National Honor Society, National Math Honor Society, and National Art Honor Society. 

“Natalie is very easy to work with and coach. She has tremendous talent and knowledge of the sport,” head gymnastics coach Pat Simon said. “She is always ready to help other girls on the team with their routines. Natalie also set the school record for the balance beam with a 9.6, which will stand for many years.”

Outside of school Morrell works at a local bakery, Scratch Baking, and volunteers at the Milford Historical Society. 

“To balance school, sports, work, and social life, I maintained a consistent schedule and worked to keep as much free time as possible,” Morrell said. “I worked on getting my schoolwork done in an efficient and timely manner so that I could still spend a lot of time with friends, and I also enjoy all of the things I’m involved in, between work, school, and gymnastics, making it easier to devote so much time to these things.” 

In April of her junior year, Morrell was awarded the Yale-Seton Hall Book Award and was named a Rensselaer Medalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction. 

Mr. Koorejian, a science teacher at Law, had the pleasure of teaching Natalie her junior year for AP Biology and feels very fortunate to have educated one of Jonathan Law’s finest students. 

“In my 30 years of teaching I have never really known a student that has excelled/accomplished more both IN and OUTSIDE the classroom than Natalie. Her resume models excellence in academics, athletics, and community involvement,” Koorejian said. “ She has such a congenial personality, Natalie Morrell is the very rare student that goes clearly beyond that and exemplifies what a truly exceptional individual in our community has accomplished.” 

Morrell talked about how she’s learned a lot about managing her time and finding a balance, all while making new friends and trying to further her understanding of her interests of what she wants to pursue in college. 

“One of my most challenging moments was just sophomore year in general, which was the year after we stopped doing hybrid for COVID and we had to transition back to coming into school in person full time,” Morrell said. 

Morrell had taken on more responsibilities which included a more intense course load and a busier high school gymnastics season, she learned how to manage her time and balance her social, school and work life.