CHAN

WESTERLY — Betty Chan’s favorite high school memory came on the wings of a thousand paper cranes.

When math teacher Richard Broomfield announced he was leaving for medical reasons, Betty, classmates and volunteers folded the traditional number of paper cranes to get a wish granted and strung them all over his room for his last day.

Except for the ones he took home, the colorful symbols of hope, long life and good luck are still there. Broomfield has said he will attend Friday’s graduation.

Chan is the valedictorian of Westerly’s Class of 2007. The top spot was so closely contended that she and two others took their last final exam Friday, went to the prom Saturday and came to graduation practice Monday without knowing who it would be.

Principal Paula Fusco started lining up the students, “and when she got to my name she said, ‘Oh yeah, I need to talk to you and Alex Lynch at the end of this,’ ” Chan said.

It was later in the practice when Fusco said that Alexandra Lynch would be leading the Pledge of Allegiance, meaning that she was the class salutatorian and Chan was valedictorian.

“I had no idea until then,” Chan said. “I was really surprised.”

So surprised that she hadn’t really thought about what to say to her classmates, their parents, the world. Except this: “Use your time wisely.”

“A lot of people in my life have been hard workers, especially my mom,” Chan said.

Qina Chin and Betty’s father, Kin, emigrated to Westerly before Betty was born. They spoke Cantonese, picking up English from their jobs and from classes at the Y. “She’s always mentioning to me that school work is very important, because that’s the only thing that will get you ahead,” Betty said of her mom.

Betty has attended Westerly schools since pre-kindergarten. She chose Boston University and will major in biomedical engineering. As part of Westerly’s robotics team that competed in the Savage Soccer tournament at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, she is fascinated by the technology in prosthetics.

“I want to help people,” she said, by making body parts to replace those that aren’t working.

She played all four years on the varsity girls volleyball team and helped manage the boys team. She was president of the International Club for three years; served on the student council; took photos for the Barker, the student newspaper; and helped raise money to fight cancer in the Relay for Life.

This summer, she plans to play beach volleyball in the under-21 league at Paddy’s and see her boyfriend, a WPI student whose parents are longtime friends of her parents, and also own the two Chen’s restaurants, in Westerly and Wakefield, where she has worked as a hostess and hopes to earn college money as a waitress.

“I’m fairly normal,” she said. “I don’t lock myself in my room studying.

“I like to do well, but I like to have fun.”

dnaylor@projo.com