Imagine there’s an individual high school sport, one in which the only ‘score’ you are given is in a single competition, a competition that lasts your entire high school career. Every tournament, meet, match and even practice is a part of your final score. The season is nine months long and you’re at practice for seven hours a day, five days a week. You push yourself to the absolute limit. The day comes where your final score is calculated and you’re in first. You’re so proud of yourself, your parents are proud, even your siblings are proud.

But your school isn’t.

Or at least they don’t show it.

Because when your name is called at the awards ceremony, your placing isn’t even mentioned. After four years of unwavering discipline and determination, don’t you deserve some sort of recognition? According to your school, no, you don’t. So you’re handed your participation trophy and you walk away, crushed.

Sounds pretty heartbreaking doesn’t it?; working hard for years to achieve something your school refuses to even acknowledge. Luckily for athletes at North, this isn’t their reality. But since 2010, every FHSD valedictorian has walked out of the Family Arena after graduation with the same experience, the one laid out for you above.

Often, when defending the lack of valedictorian recognition, people will turn to the effects of competition, arguing that creating a competitive environment is inherently harmful. But the reality is, we as humans thrive on competition, it pushes us to be better, it makes us strive for greatness. This fact is even recognized by our school; they hype up students at pep rallies by pitting the classes against each other and creating tournaments to promote better attendance. Our district utilizes the power of competition to their advantage on the daily, while simultaneously preaching its detriments when it comes to class rankings.

However, it must be recognized that competition for valedictorian is very different from that of a rally or attendance bracket. It’s much more difficult to become first in your class than it is to win a dance battle or arrive to school on time. But that raises the question: should achievements be ignored simply because they’re difficult to attain? Anyone being truthful to themselves would agree that the answer to that question is no, yet our district continues to cite the ‘danger of competition’ when disregarding our valedictorians.

Our district’s decision to not recognize valedictorians is vehemently protected using concerns for student mental health, suggesting that, in their eyes, the solution to mental illness in high schools is not to reduce homework assigned or kill the finals system, but to take away academic recognition. Our district uses newly emphasized concerns for mental health to deflect student pushback, effectively shaping the narrative into an issue of ‘either you fight for academic recognition, or you fight for mental health’, missing out on the point of valedictorian recognition entirely. Valedictorians are not tools used to wreck the psychological health of students, they are simply the students of the highest academic achievement receiving the recognition they deserve.

Ultimately, the intent behind implementing the cum laude system was to recognize more students for their achievements, an idea most everyone supports. But nothing says that the cum laude and valedictorian systems must be mutually exclusive. It is possible for Francis Howell graduations to be an event where everyone is recognized for their achievements. That’s the graduation system Francis Howell should adopt, one where those who completed over 80 hours of service work wear their NHS stole with honor, one where those who managed to maintain a GPA of 3.8 are designated as cum laude, one where those who fought long and hard to muster courage to make it to school every day walk across that stage proud of all they’ve overcome.

And one where our valedictorians are announced, receiving the recognition they undoubtedly deserve.