The Valedictorian and Salutatorian awards are the most prestigious academic/scholastic awards that a student can achieve during his or her career at Kearns High School. Salutatorian is from the root for salutation, meaning a greeting, and refers to the students with the second highest academic rank and traditionally, offered the opening speech at graduation. Valedictorian stems from “valediction” meaning to say farewell to. This term refers to the student with the highest academic rank in their class, who has earned the honor of giving the farewell speech at the graduation ceremony. These traditions date back to the earliest years of universities when all graduates were expected to have attained proficiency in “learned languages” such as Latin and Greek.
At Kearns High School, these honors are based on three specific academic areas: total GPA for grades 9-12, total number of AP, Honors, and Concurrent Enrollment classes completed in the areas of: English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, and World Languages, and the student’s highest composite ACT score. Many years ago, a beloved Kearns High School calculus teacher, Jim Walker, developed a mathematical formula guaranteeing that the top academic student would be awarded Valedictorian. The class of 2020 is proud to honor two of our most distinguished students who have both earned over sixty of their high school credits in AP, Honors, and Concurrent Enrollment classes.
Our 2020 Salutatorian is Ethan Cox. Ethan’s teacher, Mrs. Koncar, commented, “Never have I been more challenged in my own understanding of literature than with Ethan. His ability to see different perspectives opened all of our eyes to new possibilities and look deeper into characters, authors, and real-world connections. He is bound for greatness.” He has maintained a 4.0 GPA while earning credits in the following courses: ninth grade Honors English, Honors Secondary Math 2, Honors Biology, AP Human Geography. In tenth grade he successfully completed Honors Chemistry, Honors English, Honors Secondary Math 3, and AP World History. In eleventh grade Ethan’s courses included Honors English, AP Chemistry, AP US History, and AP Calculus. As a senior, he has taken AP English Literature, AP English Language, AP Physics 1, AP Statistics, AP US Government and Politics, and AP Psychology. He has earned over $100,000 in scholarship offers. We all owe a round of applause to your Salutatorian, Ethan Cox.
The Kearns High School Valedictorian, Khoi Nguyen, is an outstanding young man. Mrs. Angell, Khoi’s mathematics teacher said, “You’ve been a great example of Kearns High through your dedication, service, and excellence. It was great having you as a student, best wishes on your journey!” In four academically focused years he has continually pushed himself. In ninth grade, Khoi completed Honors English, Honors Secondary Math 1, AP Human Geography, and Honors Biology. During tenth grade Khoi’s schedule was packed with Honors English, Honors Chemistry, Honors Secondary Math 2, AP World History, and AP Biology. As a junior he successfully earned credits in Honors English, Honors Secondary Math 3, AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, and AP US History. Khoi has gone on to finish his senior year with AP English Literature, AP English Language, AP Physics 1, AP Statistics, and AP US Government and Politics. He has earned over $116,000 in scholarship offers. We owe a round of applause to your 2020 Valedictorian, Khoi Nguyen.
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