Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Recognizing achievement
It's graduation time in Fairfax County and, in many ways, those things that will happen at graduation are the same things that have happened at graduations since time immemorial.
Graduation is all about tradition and repetition. The mortarboard and long, flowing robes date back 600 years, the diplomas look very much the same and everyone gives everyone a copy of Dr. Seuss' “Oh the Places You'll Go.”
However, in Fairfax one part of the archetypal graduation narrative is no longer present, or at least is very rare – the tradition of holding up the No. 1 student as valedictorian.
“I wish there were valedictorians. ... I'm all about competition. This is a communist system!” said Oakton High School senior James Pacheco, excited to be at graduation rehearsal and clearly hamming it up for his classmates and The Times.
Pacheco was joking, but there's some truth to what he says. According to Fairfax County regulations, schools no longer operate on the system of class rank over which valedictorians and salutatorians once presided.
Along with about 20 other Oakton seniors with GPAs over 4.0, Pacheco is an “honor graduate,” a designation that means he sits in the front at the graduation ceremony and was taken out to dinner with Dr. John Banbury, Oakton's principal.
Many schools in Fairfax have honor graduates, a term meant to honor all high achievers equally. Other schools, like McLean High School, simply call all their above-4.0 students valedictorians. At Annandale High School, there is neither.
The idea is to discourage students from viewing grades as a competition. It could be argued that honoring everyone sets the bar lower, though many agree with the current system.
“I deserve it, I worked my butt off for it,” insists Oakton senior Katherine Sonmese.
“Any time we can recognize as many kids as we can, we should do that. ... They have worked extremely hard,” said McLean Principal Debbie Jackson.
Whatever your opinion on the way Fairfax recognizes its top students, it's quickly obvious that it doesn't completely level the field anyway.
When the Oakton honor grads were asked who the valedictorian would be if they had one, all pointed to Tom Nysetvold. He eventually nodded in agreement.
“Well, it would have been nice to put it on my college applications,” admitted Nysetvold, who is set to attend Brigham Young University next year.
“But I'm glad I don't have to give a speech," he added.
You must be logged in to post a comment.