Western High School’s co-salutatorian, Hamil-ton Plunkett, was recently recognized for his academic and athletic achievements alongside the other Alamance-Burlington school system’s valedictorians, salutatorians, and co-salutatorians in the Class of 2025.
Plunkett, 18, is the son of Graham attorney Clay Plunkett and Jill Plunkett, who live in Elon.
Next month, Plunkett will head to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study business on a four-year academic scholarship. He has also received a one-time, $2,500 Danny Patton Scholarship for golf from the Alamance Community Foundation. The scholarship is reserved for seniors on Western’s Men’s and Women’s golf teams, baseball team, and/or cheer team who demonstrate good character, a love of their sport, and plan to attend a two- or four-year college or university, according to the Alamance Community Foundation.
Plunkett simultaneously earned his high school diploma while also dually-enrolled at Alamance Community College and taking a communications class at Elon University during his senior year at Western.
His extracurricular activities included serving as vice president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council and as a member of the National Honors Society and Spanish National Honors Society.
The rising Carolina freshman was also a standout athlete who played football and basketball during all four years at Western; ran track during his freshman and sophomore years; and played men’s golf for the Warriors during junior and senior year.
“My most memorable experience was playing both offense and defense in football my senior year and winning the home playoff game against Vance County,” Plunkett recalls for The Alamance News. The No. 16 seed Western High School finished third in the Central 3-A Conference and defeated the No. 17 seed Vance County High School at home with a score of 36-31 in November 2024.
Plunkett joins six other ABSS valedictorians, salutatorians, and co-salutatorians who graduated in June and plan to attend the state’s flagship public university in Chapel Hill.
Plunkett’s biographical sketch and achievements were omitted from an earlier feature about this year’s valedictorians, salutatorians, and co-salutatorians in the July 3 edition of The Alamance News after officials at Western failed to identify him as a co-salutatorian, according to the ABSS administration.
