PESH Class of 2026 Valedictorian Haosu Zhu and Salutatorian Vedant Sundar pose by the panther outside Plano East Senior High School. Courtesy photo

The top two students in the Plano East Senior High School Class of 2026 have both attended Plano ISD schools since kindergarten.

Valedictorian Haosu (Sam) Zhu grew up in Plano and attended Gulledge and Stinson Elementary Schools, Otto Middle School and then PESH.

Salutatorian Vedant Sundar grew up in Richardson, but his neighborhood was zoned for Plano schools.

Both students learned in 11 th grade that they were at the top of their class.

“I realized I was at the top of my class in junior year,” Sam said.

“I had first known of my rank as salutatorian in junior year,” Vedant said. “After that, Sam and I have had a pretty close push-and-pull for the top rank. I moved up to being valedictorian in the first semester of senior year and settled back to being salutatorian now in the final rankings.”

Sam plans to major in physics at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He said he has not decided on a career path but is considering opportunities in technology or academic research.

Vedant will be attending the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California.

“I will be reading physics and mathematics,” Vedant said. “After my undergrad, I plan to pursue graduate and doctoral studies and go into research, either specializing in particle physics or theoretical condensed matter physics.

Sam played junior varsity tennis in his junior year and Plano East varsity tennis his senior year.

He also made All-Region during his four years in the PESH chamber orchestra, was concertmaster his senior year and played in the TMEA All-State orchestra for three years.

Since his sophomore year, Vedant has been president of the East Math Circle, a group covering unconventional techniques and problems across areas of pure mathematics.

“Going from student to teacher, I coach MathCounts at my former middle school (Otto Middle School), where I introduce students to contest mathematics using a self-devised curriculum,” he said. “I am honored to have helped send 10 students to state in the past four years.”

Much of his remaining time in high school was taken by university level math and physics competitions. “I have enjoyed [that] thoroughly,” he said.

For nearly 10 years, Vedant has played the mridangam, an ancient South Indian double-headed percussion instrument, as well as the violin.

He also has been a research intern for a projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Sam’s favorite high school memory was his last All-State chamber orchestra trip. “Performing alongside the best musicians in the state in my senior year made all the hours of practice throughout high school worth it,” he said.

Vedant said he was not awake for his favorite school memory — but saw the video.

He and friends were participating in the week-long Power Round of the Texas A&M University’s proof-based math contest. After 24 hours, Vedant said, he lost track of time and crashed in mid-sentence at 5 a.m.

“Luckily, my team members woke me up and we were able to submit our proofs by the 8 a.m. deadline, he said. “But it was pretty surreal to see videos of my team panic, roll me over and place a finger under my nose to check if I was still breathing.”

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