BANGOR – Each year Bangor High School awards the top four students in the graduating senior class with Charles E. French Medals. This year’s recipients are Kayle Shapero, Jennifer Guare, Nicholas Larochelle and Janice Gunther.

Kayle Shapero is a National Merit Scholar and president of the National Honor Society. She served as a yearbook editor, a Key Club officer and as a member of class council. She has been involved in Math Team, Science Bowl, Students Ending Environmental Destruction, Academic Decathalon, Junior Engineering Technical Society and Latin Club. She has been a captain of the varsity cross-country team and the swim team. She is co-president of Queen City Club, has volunteered at the Children’s Discovery Museum and coached the Middle School Swim Team.

Shapero’s honors include the Superintendent’s Award, the Maine Scholars Achievement Award, the Maine Principals’ Award, The Princeton Book Award and departmental awards in math, science, and Spanish. She is the daughter of Paul and Jane Laeger Shapero of Bangor, and will attend Princeton University in the fall, majoring in engineering.

Jennifer Guare was the co-editor in chief of the BHS Oracle this year, a D.A.R.E. role model and a member of the National Honor Society. She was a delegate to Dirigo Girls State, where she sang in the chorus and was elected to the House of Representatives.

Guare was named a National Merit finalist and has been the recipient of several other awards, including the Williams College Book Award and departmental awards in foreign language. She also has been involved with community theater and St. John’s Catholic Church. She is the daughter of Michael and Susan Guare of Bangor and will attend Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, as an English major.

Nicholas Larochelle is the vice president of the graduating class. He was a three-year member of the varsity soccer and varsity baseball teams, and a captain of each team. In his junior year, he was elected to the Penobscot Valley Conference second team for both baseball and soccer. In his senior year, he was elected to the Penobscot Valley Conference first team and the Class A All-East All-Star Team for soccer.

In the community, Larochelle has served as an assistant coach for youth sports and as a teacher’s aide in world geography classrooms at Bangor High School. He is a recipient of the Sophomore Award of Academic Excellence, the Outstanding French Student Award, the Maine Scholars Achievement Award, the United States National Soccer Award, and shared the Cornell Book Award with his twin brother, Michael.

Larochelle is the son of Carolyn and Jacques Larochelle. He will attend Bowdoin College with his older brother, Matthieu, and Michael.

Janice Gunther has been a member of the winter track team, varsity tennis team, National Honor Society, Latin Club, Speech Team and Math Team. She has a great love of music, has sung in the school chamber choir and participated in “Les Miserables.”

Outside school, Gunther takes piano lessons and she is the head girl of the choirs at St. John’s Episcopal Church. A National Merit finalist, Gunther is the daughter of Fred and Jessie Gunther of Bangor. She will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall to study biochemistry.