In the first semester of the 08-09 school year, the race to win valedictorian was on. Seniors Chelsea Clark and Michelle Kennedy had to battle it out with their smarts. Oddly enough, Kennedy and Clark share all of the same classes.
In the beginning of the second semester, the only thing that separated the two girls was a hundredth of a point in their GPAs. Kennedy came out on top with a GPA of 4.68. “That was amazing. It was a really tight race and it was a surprise to know that I’d finally beat her,” Kennedy said.
Apparently, being valedictorian has been a long term goal of Kennedy’s. She said that since middle school, she had always wanted the position and the honor.
Even with graduation rolling around the corner, she said that she was very nervous and hadn’t even thought about what she was going to say.
Every night, most students cumulatively spend maybe an hour on all of their homework. However, Michelle spends around three hours each night doing homework for all of her classes. She currently participates on the academics team, and in her sophomore and junior year, she was a part of the robotics team. Along with school activities, she participated in many outside volunteer programs.
Kennedy decided to enroll in the full IB program and to also take a bundle of AP courses. She took two years of AP Physics and is currently in AP Biology.
“It actually didn’t even come up until last year during second semester that I could be the potential valedictorian,” Clark said.
Even though Chelsea Clark didn’t get valedictorian, she did win the position of the salutatorian. As a part of her hard work, she was on the soccer team, participated in Odyssey of the Mind and takes all Pre-IB classes.
“It’s a great honor to know that I represent the class and that I get to speak at graduation and send everyone off. It’s like all of my hard work has finally paid off,” Kennedy said.
So far, Kennedy said she has been accepted to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Although she is happy to be accepted to these two schools (and a few others), she still has not decided where she wants to go. She wishes to be a material science engineer and research nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is defined as the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale.
Clark has been accepted to a few schools, but she has already decided where she is going to go. She was offered a full scholarship at Virginia Commonwealth University which is going to pay for her room, board, meals, tuition, and all of her fees. She is currently waiting to find out if they are going to pay for her books.
Both worked hard towards their grades and being the valedictorian. “I don’t regret anything. I enjoy the challenge and the rewards of working so hard towards my goal,” Kennedy said.