Academic Excellence Honors Over 150 WHS Students
WHS Lions Pride Original Story:
by Hanna Houck
On the night of October 6th at 7p.m, Walkersville High School honored students who earned an unweighted GPA of 3.5 or higher.
The night began with an introduction speech from English teacher, Thomas Kollai. Kollai told the crowd how proud he is of all his students and how he loves getting up there every year. “It’s great to get up there in a non-teaching role and highlight the best and the brightest of Walkersville,” said Kollai.
Principal Tracey Franklin then moved the audience with her motivational speech. She shared one of her favorite quotes with the audience, “‘Work hard for your dreams or someone will hire you to work for theirs,’” Franklin said. She talked about how what the students do in high school shapes their future more than anything else. “This is one of the few events that we do throughout the year that is truly celebratory and positive; it’s all about making kids feel great for their hard work.”
Last week was midterm. Over 70 students raised their grades to a 2.0 or higher to bring themselves off the ineligibility list, allowing themselves to participate in extracurriculars. This rise of students to come off of the ineligible list is one of the largest Walkersville has ever seen in one midterm. “It’s okay to be smart. We have shifted from the mindset that nerds and geeks are weird. Working hard and doing well is really what society sees,” says Franklin.
The two guest speakers were Kara Misner and Miles Johnson. They graduated from Walkersville in 2010. Misner went off to University of Maryland at College Park while Johnson went to Georgia Tech. Both Misner and Johnson are engineers and have paycheck jobs just four months out of college. They spoke about the opportunities they have been given and what they have created from them. “Never stop going after what you want because you can get it,” said Johnson.
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