Benjamin Franklin High School Graduates 266 Members of the Class of 2024

NEW ORLEANS (May 23, 2024) – Benjamin Franklin High School held its annual graduation ceremony for the Class of 2024 on Tuesday, May 21, at 4 p.m. at UNO Lakefront Arena, officially marking the transition from student to alumnus for 266 students. 

“The graduating class of 2024 was born during Hurricane Katrina, proving from day one that they could sleep through a storm,” said BFHS World Languages Department Chair and Class of 2024 co-sponsor Rachel Becker ’99, whose son is a 2024 graduate. “Then they started high school during the COVID-19 lockdowns, turning Zoom into their second home. They’ve survived hurricanes, pandemics, and Wi-Fi outages—so there’s really nothing they can’t handle. Their resilience, strength, and intelligence are unmatched, and the world doesn’t stand a chance without them!”

The valedictorian is Sasha Wolfson, the daughter of Daliah and Aaron Wolfson. A member of the National Honor Society with more than 80 hours of community service, Wolfson has been a jazz and classical pianist for 15 years. She is also a three-year member of both the tennis team and Mock Trial, serving as co-president of Mock Trial this year, and has interned at Groundwork New Orleans and the Greater New Orleans Caring Collective. Next year, she will attend Georgetown University and is considering a major in either American studies or government on a pre-law track. 

The salutatorian is Ruth Jules, the daughter of Altole and Therese Jules. While at Franklin, Jules was a member of the National Honor Society and Black Culture Club and played on the varsity softball team. She served as Urban Culture Step Team’s media and design manager and was a peer tutor for all four years of high school. Fluent in French, Jules won a silver medal in the National French Contest and a bronze medal at the state academic rally. She is a 2023 Questbridge College Prep Scholar and National College Match Finalist, a College Board National African American Scholar, an AP Scholar with Honors, a First District Missionary Baptist Association State Oratorical Contest winner, a Matthew McGarry Scholarship recipient, and a Scholastic Art and Writing Award recipient. Following graduation, she will attend Northwestern University, majoring in biological sciences on the pre-dental track and minoring in French.

The winner of the 2024 Key Award, the award given to the graduating senior who best exemplifies the life of Benjamin Franklin and the school’s core values of honor, service, justice, and wisdom, is Iyanna Snaer. The daughter of Rossly Zapata and Jose Rosales, Snaer accumulated more than 200 service hours and served as a board member for the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council and the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. A four-year member of Student Council, she worked tirelessly on the school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Work Group and its culminating Unity Day that brought all of the school’s identity and culture clubs together. In addition to being a student ambassador for Harvard’s Latina Empowerment and Development Conference, she is a four-year member of the Urban Culture Step Club, serving two years as co-captain and one year as captain, and was instrumental in making sure it was recognized as a spirit group. She plans to pursue a degree in political science and a minor in business administration at Spelman College.

A full list of our graduates is below:

Summa Cum Laude (4.0 and above): Katherine Avin, Nancy Barabino, Olive Barrau, Karya Basaraner, Blake Bennett, Catherine Bilbe, Brooke Blanchard, Saige Bradford, Taylah Brady, Roya Brinkman, Lola Cameron, Karla Carcamo, Songwe Catling, Josephine Chan, Adam Chu, Chelsea Clark, Stormi Coleman, Carmen Colón, Anton Constance, Precious Dao, Elise DeJan, Noah Detiege, Lou Didelot, Trevor Dieudonne, Gabriel Dixon, Lillian Dubberley, Corinne Dumez, Nina Dumoulins, Hong-An Duong, Sasha Durta, Euan Edwards, Cora Evans, Svara Ferris, Mallory Gahagan, Cielo Gamad, Austin Geng, Amir Gentry, Kaiya Glaude, Elliott Gomes, Faustina Gomez, Allison Honeywood, Imani Hunter, Laila Javery, Alora Jensen, Amiah Johnson, Andrew Jones, Carmen Jones, Abigail Justin David, Maya Kelly, Lydia Kimbrough, Ava Kreutziger, David Labadie, Hanh Le, Kaydence Le, Trisha Le, Brianna Leathem Brazzini, Amelia Lovelace, Kennedi Marshall, Jayla Martin, Tiffany Mazier, Ian McLetchie, Aubrey Muirhead, Noa Nasoff, Jessica Nguyen, Katie Nguyen, Keyla Nguyen, Kimberly Nguyen, Natalie Nguyen, Phillip Nguyen, Hannah Nides, Vladimir Nogueira Jr., Emilie Ouyang, Warria Page, Jacob Pham, Gabrielle Prevost, George Ramirez, Emma Randels-LaRocca, Nora Ribka, Colin Rivera, Emma Romero, Vera Rouse, Sophie Roussel, Camille Sejud, India Sharma-Chaube, Jia Sharma-Chaube, Zachery Simien Jr., Joseph Strauss, Molly Talbot, Vale Tesch, Sage Thompson, Austin Tran, Brooke Tran, Kai Tran, Matthew Tran, Nicholas Tran, Paul Tran, Peyton Tran, Thien Tran, Chau Truong, Ester Urbina Lopez, Sawyer Villarreal, Kate Wainwright, David Washington, Jaye Washington, Luke Washington, Corin White, Amaya Windham, Autumn Winfield, Micaela Wyche, and Debbie Zheng  

Magna Cum Laude (3.5 – 3.9): Dervish Abrams, Jadyn Askin, Juan Barahona, Lauren Bartels DeLancey, Carl Beabout, Kylan Benton, Kristen Bernard, Kondoh-Nika Bitho, Baldewin Bokus, Milo Bollino, Asija Brekalo, Demi Brown, Mariah Brown, Reagan Butler, Jacob Chapital, Stark Conner, Brayden Credeur, Emile Creevy, Thomas Currie, Andy Dang, Joanna Davis, Jude Depp, Aaron Dixon, Delilah Duffy, Maliah Ecker, Zakariyya Ganier, Banks Gerowin, Scott Gottsche Jr., Thomas Gross III, Kyleigh Harkless, Aniya Hayes, Kaida Herrera, Croix Hill, Derick Houston III, Ava Hymel, Kamrin Jones, Raleigh Katz, Carolyn Keegan, Bethany Kelly, Benjamin Kornman, Olivia Laudumiey, Geoffrey Lazartigues, Brandon Le, Reid Lomax, Matthew Marcelle Jr., Bianca Martin, Trey Meyer, Galen Michel, Maxwell Miller, Cayla Mitchell, Ryan Moreau, Michael Neal, Ava Nguyen, Bill Nguyen, Duy Nguyen, Ethan Nguyen, Madison Nguyen, Peter Nguyen, Quyen Nguyen, Tina Nguyen, Zachary Nguyen, Kelly Ouyang, Aarion Owens, Samuel Perez, McClellan Peters, Allisa Pham, Lauren Pham, Sophia Phillips, Demi Porter, Kevaun Porter, Kate Ransom, Joseph Romanos, Alejandro Rose, Jacob Russell, Selene Saraiva-Verdan, Jacob Seale, Iyanna Snaer, Violet Stander, Nicholas Summers, Hazel Tebbe-Crump, Haley Ton, Phat Tran, DéVon Trask, DeVonté Trask, Jacob Treadway, Violet Turnbough, Marley Turner, Eryn Vance, Diana Vasquez, Katelyn Vo, Bernard Voss-Potts, Ava Waller, Zale Ward, Calee Warren, Ivanna Washington, Marchelle Washington, Aidan Weishaupt, Gavin Wiedemann, and Jameson Young  

All other 2024 graduates: Thinuga Adihetti, Akil Akins, Rajae Allen, Takiera Augustin, Alexander Barrois, Reginald Batiste III, Lauren Brown, Rosalie Chapman, Marlon Compass, David Cruz, Rohan Dash, Alexander Dermody, David Ducorbier Jr., Keya Ellis, Avignon Gamulo, Tyron Glenn, Benjamin Grau Jr., Kobby Gyimah, Vincent Jarand, Anthony Jones III, Shelby Jones, Ava Julien, Dylan Knott, Gabriella Lopez, Patrick Lottinger, Kalil Major, Sage Maklansky, Laura Maldonado, Eli Mannix, Jamyra Marcel, Cierah Marshall, Brooke Metoyer, Sayyidah Muhammad, Madeleine Ogburn, Nathaniel Ortega, Jaydon Pierre, Frankie Ratowitz, Golden Richard IV, Carlos Rodas, Dace Schaumburg, Ella Shaw, Larry Smith III, Keziah Stewart, Savannah Stewart, Seth Sylve, Djelika Thiero, Ash Thornsberry, Julia Tucker, Stephen Turner III, Ashlee Urbina, Madison Vidal, Alfred Williams III, Antoine Williams Jr., Emilia Winther Christensen, and Victoria Zwanziger-Valdes  

For more information, please contact Eve Peyton at (504) 503-0062 or  epeyton@bfhsla.org. 

Sasha Wolfson

Ruth Jules

Iyanna Snaer