For the first time in Heritage history, there will be no valedictorian or salutatorian. Instead, 12 seniors with the highest GPAs have earned the title of Top Scholar. In the top 3% of their class, these students will lead the graduation processional, sitting in the front seats and receiving their diplomas first at graduation.
Upper School principal Mrs. Elise Blum emailed these students and their parents April 1. “It is an amazing honor and achievement and a testament to not only your ability, but also to your hard work and dedication to your studies,” she said in the letter.
Senior Jonah Jacobs, a Top Scholar, will attend Duke University next year. “It feels great to be recognized as a Top Scholar. Even with the tough school year we have experienced, it is nice to now see how my hard work has paid off,” he said.
Senior Rishi Patel, who will attend Boston University next year, also earned a spot on this list. “It feels pretty awesome to be a Top Scholar. I definitely wasn’t expecting this at all, so finding out that I was one of the top students was super exciting and made all the hard work over the last four years really feel worthwhile,” he said.
After having potential speakers from the Top Scholar list audition, administration nominated senior William Chan to give the Top Scholar Speech at graduation.
Listed alphabetically, here are the top 3% of the Class of 2021:
Jae Young Beck
William Chan
Montserrat de Allende Silva
Alexander Divoux
Vasisht Ganesh
Sena Ghobadi
Muchen Guo
Jonah Jacobs
Gauri Kasarla
Iris Lang
Albert Lu
Rishi Patel