EAST PROVIDENCE —  When the East Providence High School graduating Class of 2018 gathers for its commencement exercises Friday evening, June 8, at Pierce Memorial Stadium, a terrific trio of students will lead their peers down the aisle to receive their diplomas.

Valedictorian Hailey Placido, salutatorian Amyra Durkin and avedictorian Daniel Strother will finish their senior years as the top three pupils academically. Each has already authored an impressive resume and have even loftier aspirations moving forward.

Placido, who attended Kent Heights Elementary and Martin Middle School, was a three-sport captain for the EPHS girls’ soccer, indoor and outdoor track teams. She was also a member of the National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Portuguese Honor Society and the “Townie-to-Townie” outreach program between high school and elementary school students. Placido is headed to Springfield College, where she is enrolled in the Physician Assistant Studies program, a six-year endeavor that includes a major in Health Science.

Durkin attended Silver Spring Elementary and Riverside Middle School. She was a board member of both her class committees and student council. Academically, she was a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. Durkin matriculates to Brown University in the fall where she’ll study Physics.

Strother, who split time at Kent Heights and Myron Francis elementary then attended Martin, had four principal roles in EPHS musical theatre troupe productions, was section leader in the chorus, president of the school’s National Honor Society chapter and was a member as well of the Spanish Honor Society. He’ll attend Providence College in the fall to study Music Education.

As has consistently been the case with the top East Providence High School students, the current class leaders will attend some of the region’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning. And they each agreed one aspect of their high school academic experience helped ready them properly for the next level: Advanced Placement studies.

“I think what best prepared me was the AP courses and time management,” said Placido. “I was able to take all the AP courses available to me pretty much except Spanish, and it really helped me with time management, how to study for each course and how to have a study plan for each course as well.”

Durkin concurred, adding, “With AP classes, they’re structured more like college classes so you have to keep up on the work a lot more on you’re own. You have to do a lot of independent work. And there are just higher expectations. They’re more like college courses so it will be a smoother transition from high school to college.

Strother echoed those sentiments, “Building off what they said, some of the faculty that we have here just really know how to prepare you. They give you good study habits. Personally, my first AP class with Mr. (Richard) Martin really taught me how to study for things, really read the textbook and know what to look for. It really helped me prepare for college courses.”

A healthy competition between themselves and the other best and brightest EPHS has to offer also played a role in their development in the classroom.

“This year, especially, there’s been a lot of movement in the top five (ranked students), so we’ve all been competing for the same spots,” Placido explained. “But we all have the same classes. We all work just as hard as each other. We definitely all worked for our positions and we definitely all earned them.”

Competitive, but cordial is how Durkin described the interactions of the top students.

“I think it really is a friendly competition,” she said. “We all like each other. We see each other in every class. We have every class together, so we know and like each other.”

Their relationships have been both amiable and motivational at the same time, according to Strother.

“It’s very inspiring because you have these people around you who want to succeed just as much as you do, and it kind of pushes you to do even more,” he said.

While all three will offer words of wisdom, as valedictorian Placido’s speech to her classmates Friday night will set the tenor of the program.

“My focus will be on opportunity and taking as many opportunities that you can. And also, overcoming challenges,” she said, previewing her message. “For myself, it’s been a struggle, too, because both of my parents are from Portugal and they didn’t really receive an education. Neither one of them graduated high school, so for me it was about becoming independent and taking advantage of every opportunity that I could to succeed. And it ended up working out in the end.”

The Class of ’18 top three will depart EPHS with many lasting memories. For Placido, it was helping the Townies win their first-ever girls’ soccer championship, the Division III title, in the fall of 2016. For Strother, it was his role in this spring’s theatrical production of “RENT.”

For Durkin, a feeling shared by the others as well, she’ll take with her the collaborative enterprise between herself and the EPHS staff, including the school administration and their guidance counselors: for Durkin and Srother, Marshall Duran, and for Placido, Richard Silva.

“The teachers, I’ve had really great teachers here and they’ve motivated me to go after my goals,” Durkin continued.

Added Placido, “Like Amyra said, definitely the teachers and the administrators and our guidance counselors for helping us out.”

Commencement exercises for the EPHS Class of 2018 begin at 7 o’clock Friday at Pierce.