[ noun ] a graduating student with the second highest academic rank; may deliver the opening address at graduation exercises <noun.person>
Salutatorian \Sa*lu`ta*to"ri*an\, n. The student who pronounces the salutatory oration at the annual Commencement or like exercises of a college, -- an honor commonly assigned to that member of the graduating class who ranks second in scholarship. [U.S.]
They graduated from high school just fractions of a grade point apart, as valedictorian and salutatorian.