Photo by Doug Benz/Staff Amanda Stockwell is Starpoint Central School’s 2004 valedictorian. She plans to attend Canisius College to study science education. Click on photo for larger image

Students hope to teach
By Sarah Nemeth
Wednesday, June 09, 2026

PENDLETON — Starpoint’s “top two” this year are academic leaders, both headed toward a career in education.

Valedictorian Amanda Stockwell, a science teacher hopeful, wasn’t planning on being number-one.

“I was actually aiming for number three because I didn’t have to write a speech,” the shy student said, chuckling. “There are people in my class who are really, really open about being huge geniuses and I thought they were going to be ahead of me. I was just trying to do well.”

Stockwell was part of the Science Olympiad and this year’s Peter Pan musical where she was an indian and adult Wendy.

She’s also been involved in math classes at the University at Buffalo. The class counts both for high school and 22 college credits.

She was surprised at her score of 1510 on her SATs.

“I was so afraid because I’ve been doing math all these years but I was never good at English,” she said.

The 18-year-old plans on attending Canisius College to study Science Education and teach either middle school or high school.

“I wanted to be close to home,” she said, adding that her choice was between Canisius and Niagara University.

Stockwell’s mom, Renee, is proud of her daughter’s metamorphosis in her high school years.

“To me it’s not as important that she’s top in her class, it’s that she did the best she could do,” Renee said. “She really transformed from a really shy girl in the lower grades that didn’t even talk much...and really discovered how smart she was. People weren’t even aware of it until about sixth grade.”

Mom is happy with Stockwell’s college choice.

“I think it’s an excellent school,” she said. “She has so many different things you can go into. She’s dedicated.”

“Dedicated” is a word that Sue Baker also used to describe her daughter, Stephanie, Starpoint’s salutatorian, who wants to pursue a career in music education.

“She’s always been very dedicated and very hard-working,” she said. “All of her teachers from very young have always told us how organized she is. She has a way of looking in-depth at things. She’s hard to describe. She’s always been an extremely bright child.”

Baker, 18, played field hockey, ran track, and was involved in the school’s honor society and jazz band.

She’s played trumpet since third-grade and was involved in “42nd Street” at The Palace Theatre.

Baker earned a perfect score on her calculus midterm this year and has always had a 93-average or above.

“I worked hard but I didn’t think I’d rank as high as I did,” she said. “I think mostly (in high school) I learned how to deal with a lot of problems – anything that would come at me in life.”

Baker will attend Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania where she will study music education in the honors program.

Her twin sister, Kimberly, will attend the school with her.

“It wasn’t really a surprise because academically Steph has received the Superintendent’s Award since being in high school,” she said. “Steph is very modest, though, about herself.”

Contact Sarah Nemeth at (716) 439-9222 Ext. 6246.
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