Byram Hills High School proudly announced that the Class of 2026 valedictorian is Max Charney and the salutatorian is Alex Lewis.
The students will each deliver a speech at graduation on June 23.
“Congratulations to Max and Alex, exceptional students who worked extremely hard at Byram Hills,” said Principal Christopher Walsh, who announced the news to applause at graduation rehearsal on June 17. “They’ve not only grown academically, but also in leadership and civic engagement. They represented the very best of Byram Hills and made important contributions to our school community.”
Max will attend Harvard University.
“I feel incredibly honored and grateful,” he said of being named the valedictorian. “It represents my individual academic effort as well as the time and energy the Byram Hills community has generously provided me all along the way.”
The key factors to his academic success, Max said, were “an enjoyment of the learning process and continued dedication.” “I couldn’t have achieved this accomplishment without the immense support of my incredible teachers, friends and family,” he added.
Max is passionate about all academic subjects and applies his knowledge and curiosity to address real-world challenges.
He is a standout, award-winning student in the three-year Byram Hills Authentic Science Research Program, where he was known as a brave thinker who posed bold questions. Max completed three notable independent research projects in the time most students finish one.
In 11th grade, Max created a deep learning computer model to help predict the prognosis of cancer patients based on genetic and clinical data, a project that won first place in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair.
For his second project, Max developed machine learning models to predict the effects of two treatment approaches on patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. He co-authored a paper on this work, which was presented at a conference of the European Society for Medical Oncology.
As a senior, Max was selected as a scholar in the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search and won first place in Behavior and Social Science at the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair for his third project. In this computational social science research study, Max used a unique data source — vast amounts of Amazon customer reviews — to assess social behavior and created methodologies that can be used to study countless other social phenomena at large scales.
Max also founded Career Chats, a nonprofit organization that aims to enhance career readiness for high school students through interviews with professionals from around the world in various fields. At Byram Hills, he launched the first Career Chats club, and other schools have started their own chapters. Max gave a presentation on Career Chats to the 2025 United Nations General Assembly, and the organization was also featured in Forbes.
Max won the 2024 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s 17th District for creating NewsCompass, which was featured in the U.S. Capitol and uses machine learning to detect political bias in the news media and connects users across ideological divides.
Max is a member of the Cum Laude Society for outstanding academic achievement, a member of the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honor society, and was a National Merit Commended Student.
As a senior, he won the Ken Hamilton Memorial Award for exceptional computer science skills and the Abe Shahim Science Research Award. As a junior, Max was honored with the Harvard Prize Book Award for excellence in scholarship, character and commitment to others.
He was also a president of the Tech Club, and led an effort to obtain an Insta-Grant from the Byram Hills Education Foundation for a desktop computer to help students learn about hardware. He was a captain of the Math Team, a teaching assistant for AP Computer Science A, and was invited to the Student Leadership Board.
Max said he is well prepared for life after high school. “Byram Hills helped me develop indispensable critical thinking and analytical skills,” he said. “I’ve also gained substantial knowledge and learning frameworks to draw from in the future.”
An important lesson Max learned is to “take initiative: start assignments early, seek and pursue your passions, and ask teachers for help when necessary.”
“Life feels rewarding when you actively engage with opportunities instead of waiting for them to find you,” Max said.
Alex will attend Muhlenberg College, where he will be in the highly selective RJ Fellows Honors Program for high-achieving students who have shown exceptional curiosity, and play Division III tennis. He plans to study mathematics and physics and hopes to become a teacher in one of those subjects.
“I feel very happy and proud,” Alex said of being the salutatorian. “It was very nice to hear that my hard work in high school paid off. Even though I was never studying and working with the goal of being salutatorian or valedictorian, it’s nice to get the recognition.”
Alex’s primary interests have been math, science and government. Alex said he “learns a lot and thinks a lot and tries to apply it in order to make the world a better place.”
Well-respected in the school community, Alex was nominated to serve on the Athletic Advisory Committee, the Student Grading Committee, the Student Leadership Board and the Acting with Integrity Committee.
When Alex was a junior, Byram Hills announced it would hold its first Student Government election in about 20 years. Alex had studied election systems on his own and was interested in using math to make voting more representative and fair. One of his biggest accomplishments was convincing Byram Hills to adopt a ranked-choice voting system for the school election.
This year, Alex won the New York State Comptroller’s Student Achievement Award for academic achievement and outstanding community service, the Byram Hills Social Sciences Award for growth in social studies and an award for outstanding achievement in mathematics for a senior, an honor he also won junior year. He won the Yale University Book Award last year as well.
An exceptional athlete, Alex played on the Boys Varsity Tennis team for five seasons, culminating this year as captain when he led the squad to a New York State championship in the team event. Alex was also a state finalist in eighth grade, earned All-League honors and was a state finalist and team MVP last year.
He is a member of the Cum Laude Society for outstanding academic excellence, president of the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honor society, president and a captain of the Math Team and was a teaching assistant in AP Computer Science Principles.
Alex said he excelled in high school by forming relationships with teachers, attending office hours, paying attention to detail and getting assignments done a day early. “I built strong habits and just kept going,” he said.
An important lesson Alex learned in high school is that “personal relationships matter.”
“Life is a lot easier, and school is a lot easier, when you’re friendly with your teachers and your peers,” he said. “School is easier when you enjoy it, and that starts with the people.”
Alex said the high school teachers are “great people and mentors,” who inspired him to become an educator.
“They shaped the way I plan to live my life,” he said. Highlighting a time when math teacher Rebecca Barnum allowed him to teach a lesson, Alex said the Byram Hills teachers “give you opportunities to find yourself and grow.”
“I’m grateful for the people in this place,” he said, “and everything they’ve done for me.”
Pictured from left to right are Class of 2026 Salutatorian Alex Lewis and Valedictorian Max Charney.