Electric Fishwrap

Depends on the school

By KATE MARTIN

Skagit Valley Herald staff writer

High school valedictorians across the state are preparing their parting words to their respective graduating classes.

In many cases, schools have more than one valedictorian. For example, among some of Skagit County’s largest schools, Burlington-Edison has eight, Anacortes five and Sedro-Woolley four. Garfield High in Seattle has 40 (four-zero — that’s not a typo).

But at Mount Vernon High School, there can be only one.

Starting with the 2008 class, Mount Vernon will weigh Advanced Placement courses higher than non-AP courses, Principal Dave Anderson said. The goal, he said, is to encourage high-achieving students to take rigorous courses without fear of wrecking their gradepoint average.

“At times there’s comments from students, ‘If I take this class I might get a B, and I won’t be valedictorian anymore,’” he said.

Anderson ran the new policy through the school’s parent group and leadership team earlier this school year and was given the go-ahead.

“Valedictorian and salutatorian should be recognition of top academic performance,” he said.

Currently, there are two students with a 4.0 GPA, but only one will stand as valedictorian in June. The school won’t say which student will be valedictorian.

Theresa Strachila is one of the students with a 4.0 GPA. She’s taken four AP courses since she started at Mount Vernon: chemistry, physics, calculus and English. She’s also taking the AP test for Spanish because she’s in Spanish 4 now. She wants to go into a premedical program in college.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it,” Strachila said of the AP courses. “The teachers who teach the AP classes do a good job of trying to help the 4.0 students. The tests are really difficult and you’re not going to get an A on the test necessarily.”

Homework is part of the grade, she said, and that can bring a motivated student’s grade back to an A.

The Skagit County school with the most valedictorians is Burlington-Edison with eight, and they’re all girls. Five of them sat in the high school’s library Friday afternoon to talk about what being a valedictorian means.

“My friends usually think it’s kind of cool,” said Krista Studebaker, 18 — then she smiled. “They sometimes joke and call me a nerd.”

But does the title lose meaning with so many valedictorians?

The Burlington scholars say no. In fact, they bristled at the question.

Studebaker said some people say grade inflation is the reason there are eight valedictorians at her school.

“We wouldn’t avoid a class because it’s too hard,” said Allie Stewart, 17. “You learn to learn; you don’t learn for the grade.

“In the beginning, you say AP will look good on your transcript.”

“But it doesn’t look good on a transcript unless you try hard,” added Sarah Thramer, 17.

Grade inflation is a perennial topic, Stewart said.

“Some teachers had debates about grade inflation, and it bothered those of us with high grades,” Stewart said. “We’ve earned this.”

Among the Burlington-Edison valedictorians, the girls have taken 21 AP classes ranging from calculus to languages.

Thramer, who is Studebaker’s cousin, said she didn’t try to get a 4.0 just to become valedictorian.

“It shouldn’t just be about the 4.0. It takes away from the focus of what you’re trying to do,” Thramer said.

The valedictorians have taken classes together and often studied at pre-test Advanced Placement calculus parties at Haggen or crammed for other tests while watching “The Office.”

But several said they had close calls with a 4.0-breaker.

For Sara Pack, that class was physical education. There was one mile between her and maintaining her 4.0 — literally.

“I was really worried,” she said.

But she ran the mile, heaved a sigh of relief and kept her 4.0.

The girls also agreed that certain teachers like Ryan Kuttel and Charlie Herzberg — both teach social studies — gave them cause for concern because of the rigorous curriculum.

Herzberg said he feels many students, and adults, are stretched too thin. But the 4.0 students are even more so.

“I think a lot of them are under pressure the entire time they’re here,” he said. “Especially toward the end.”

Now that the valedictorians’ titles are sealed, they can coast, technically, to the end of the school year. They don’t have to maintain a 4.0 for the final semester because grades won’t be turned in until after graduation. But that’s not stopping Kaitlyn Conijn from trying.

“My parents are telling me now it’s OK to get less than an A,” Conijn said. “But it’s hard. I still stress out.”

Mount Vernon’s Strachila said she thinks freshmen might feel better about taking an AP class if they know it won’t hurt their GPA.

“But the students who are really high-achieving are going to take the AP classes even if it might mean they won’t get a 4.0,” she said.

Conijn said she thinks Mount Vernon’s policy is fair.

“It’s good to reward students for taking the challenge of an AP course,” she said.

Originally published March 17, 2008.