CONGRATULATIONS!
2020 CKS VALEDICTORIAN, AMANDA ROBINSON,
SALUTATORIAN, MICHELE DIBARI!
March 21, 2020
Cedar Key School Principal Kathy Lawrence notified Amanda and Michele on Thursday that they were the top students in the Class of 2020. Amanda and Michele credit each other for doing so well in high school. Both of the seniors said the academic competition between them forced them to work harder in every class.
Amanda, the daughter of Laura and Robert Robinson (and aunt of Brighton!) has been accepted by Yale University, the University of Florida, and every other college and university she has applied to so far. Her post-high school plans are to major in political science and eventually work in government or media. 
Amanda is one of six students in this year's graduating class who have attended CKS since pre-kindergarten. During her years on campus, Amanda participated in cross country, High-Q, Beta, FFA, student government, and yearbook. Her favorite memories of her high school years include a lunch club that met in the library, bonfires created by Chanler Beckham, and anything and everything that happened in Mr. Powers' class where Amanda said, "There were so many antics. So many!"
Michele is the son of Vito and Martina DiBari and older brother of freshman Alessio. Michele has also been accepted at UF as well as at several other top universities, including the University of Chicago where he was recruited as a thrower for the track and field team. Michele's plans are to earn a business degree at UF, then go onto graduate school for an MBA before starting his own platform business (which has been motivated by the growth he has seen among existing platforms such as Uber and Airbnb).
Michele joined the Class of 2020 as a middle school student when he family moved to Cedar Key from Miami. During his time as a Shark, Michele was selected as the MVP on the basketball and track and field teams in 2019, served as captain of the High-Q team, and created the livestreaming system that allows games in the Shark Tank to be broadcast live on YouTube.
The best high school memories Michele will take with him revolve around a close-knit group of classmates who got involved with salvaging a sunken sailboat, took a three day camping trip on a remote island, and used shelving to wakeboard in roadside ditches following the flooding last fall.
"But in school, competition with Amanda was always the underlying reason for getting good grades," Michele said.
Whether or not Amanda, Michele, and the rest of the class will walk across the stage to get their diplomas remains to be seen as the coronavirus pandemic unfolds and social distancing has become a standard practice. Amanda, who set being valedictorian as a goal years ago, said she realizes the pandemic may prevent he being able to deliver the valedictory speech at graduation."That would be disappointing but I lecture my class everyday so they wouldn't be too disappointed if I didn't get to give a speech," Amanda said with a laugh.
Graduation is scheduled for Saturday, May 23 at 9 a.m.
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