Twenty-Seven Valedictorians in High School Graduating Class

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Twenty-Seven Valedictorians in High School Graduating Class

June 8th, 2015

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Ocala, FL’s Vanguard High School’s Class of 2015 has 27 valedictorians.

The class of 2015 at Vanguard High School in Ocala, Marion County, Florida, has 27 valedictorians. That’s just over 7% of the 370-member class. There is no class salutatorian.

Traditionally, in a high school graduating class, the student who ranks second in academic achievement is named salutatorian and the honor of valedictorian is given to the top ranked academic student. The fact that Vanguard High has more than one valedictorian is not unusual; since 2011 the school has averaged 25 valedictorians annually.

Each year most of Marion County’s National Merit Scholarship finalists are students of Vanguard High, and many of the school’s graduates go on to attend premier colleges and universities. Vanguard is a magnet school, offering an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program. The IB program is the most accelerated high school program available. School spokesman Kevin Christian explained that IB classes “are weighted at a higher level. When a student earns an ‘A’, they get five points instead of four.” Colleen Wade, director of Vanguard’s IB Program said, “Our school name is Vanguard. Vanguard means ‘leader.’ I [think all students] come here knowing that is their goal.”

All 27 valedictorians earned straight ‘A’s in 24 college-level (IB) courses, earning the highest Grade Point Average (GPA) attainable. Each of them also scored at least 29 on the ACT or at least 1,290 on the SAT and passed the state required end-of-course exams in algebra I, geometry, and U.S. history. Additionally, they completed 100 hours of volunteer community service.

Rather than use the GPA method, many school districts use actual numeric scores in each class to calculate class ranking. That process eliminates ties. Wade said Marion County’s model makes “a level playing field for all students”.

The class of 2015 will be the last class at Vanguard High to have multiple valedictorians. Next year a new policy allows for tie-breakers.