New York high school's graduating class breaks school record with 21 valedictorians

"“It was hard. There were many nights where I wondered why I was putting myself through this,” said Jericho High School Valedictorian Riya Shah. Shah is now accepted to Princeton, one of many prestigious institutions that value the academic achievement in this elite group. They are way more than their grades though."

"“We have National Merit Scholars; we have musicians at the highest level,” said Jericho High School Principal Brian Cummings. The school also has future problem solvers. Valedictorian Franklin Lee is headed to Stanford to sort out healthcare issues and transportation problems with A.I. “The plane schedules could be a little chaotic, and like maybe I could fix that,” Lee said."

"“I wanna be a lawyer,” Amneet Kaur said. “I'm a global health major in their school of health,” Harnoor Joneja said. All of them have made sacrifices at some point in the busy social lives and activity schedules that most high schoolers have."

"Twenty-one is a lot of valedictorians, but it has to do with the system in which they calculate the scores. The system uses the unweighted letter grades of students, meaning technically, they could have all A+'s and not taken any honors classes. However, for most of the valedictorians, they have taken honors and AP courses. They do have tips for those in high school and are still in the thick of it."

Twenty-one valedictorians from Jericho High School in New York finished high school with straight A+'s in every class for all four years. None described the experience as easy, citing late nights and moments of doubt. The group includes students accepted to top universities such as Princeton and Stanford, along with two headed to Georgetown. Their interests extend beyond grades, including music at high levels, law, global health, and using AI to address healthcare and transportation problems. The school’s academic scoring system uses unweighted letter grades, which could allow A+'s without honors, though most valedictorians took honors and AP courses. Students emphasized building strong support systems and completing standardized tests early to reduce stress.

Read at 6abc Philadelphia