Free Republic

Getting accepted into a university is arguably the most challenging part of getting a college degree. It’s not as easy as it was even just ten years ago. For the Ivy League schools, it’s a whole other ballpark for those trying to get accepted purely off merit. One high school student had a nearly perfect track record and still faced numerous rejections. Every Ivy League school rejected a valedictorian with a 1590 SAT score. With over 154,000 followers on TikTok, a user named Limmy has amassed quite a lot of support thanks to his videos about college applications. From reviews...

A valedictorian from New Jersey says his high school tried to censor his graduation speech, first making him remove parts about sexuality and mental health, then cutting him off as he spoke at graduation. Eighteen-year-old Bryce Dershem, who graduated from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, told CBS News he originally wrote a speech about being queer and dealing with mental health issues, but Principal Robert Tull told him to change it. Dershem said he spent months in treatment for anorexia and didn't even know if he'd be able to graduate, let alone become valedictorian. "As soon as I heard...

Two Black high school students in Mississippi are reportedly having to share their prestigious honor with their white classmates. According to Mississippi Today, West Point High, which is located in the eastern portion of the state, is facing backlash for changing its class ranking system after it announced Ikeria Washington as valedictorian and Layla Temple as salutatorian for the Class of 2021 on May 24. On Thursday (June 3), the school wrote that it recognizes students with both the highest Quality Point Average (QPA) and Grade Point Average (GPA).

A Michigan high school student was directed by her principal to remove religious references she included in a valedictory address she was expected to deliver on June 6. “For me, my future hope is found in my relationship with Christ,” Hillsdale High School senior Elizabeth Turner wrote in her prepared remarks. “By trusting in Him and choosing to live a life dedicated to bringing His kingdom glory, I can be confident that I am living a life with purpose and meaning. My identity is found by what God says and who I want to become is laid out in scripture,”...

A California valedictorian used her high school commencement speech last week to accuse office staff of nearly making her lose out on scholarship money, a counselor of never having time for her and another teacher of being consistently drunk in class. The address has since gone viral. Nataly Buhr, a senior at San Ysidro High School in San Diego, began her address by thanking her parents, friends and a few select teachers for inspiring her to achieve success. She then continued to “thank” other school employees whom she said taught her valuable lessons by failing to do their own jobs...

PORT CLINTON, Ohio — One local school district is doing away with an old tradition: Port Clinton High School is no longer awarding a class Valedictorian. Principal Gary Steyer said they have seen this trend begin to spread in other school districts, as the old way seemed to undermine the education process by creating a competition among top tier students. "Three or four or five, maybe a year are really vying for one spot. And it became kind of this competition between them almost, and it just wasn't healthy for them," Steyer said. Nick Perry, who transferred to Port Clinton...

MASON, Ohio — Mason High School students will no longer vie for valedictorian and salutatorian distinctions in an effort to "reduce the overall competitive culture" between students, school officials said. Beginning with the Class of 2020, the high school will do away with both honors. School officials said it follows a yearlong study and focus group with students, staffers and families. "It's about what it means to be happy and what it means to be successful and it's not just about the grade but it's about the whole child," Associate Principal Shanna Bumiller said. Mason school officials made the announcement...

Lovett, who graduated from Rochester's University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men last month, had initially planned to give a speech at the ceremony, as other student valedictorians had done in the past, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper reported. But Lovett, who said he had a few encounters with his principal over student protests, told the outlet that the principal, Joseph Munno, refused to let him deliver the speech. "Unfortunately, Jaisaan's school did not allow him to give his valedictorian speech," Warren says in the clip on her public Facebook page. "For some reason, his school — in a...

A dad from North Carolina bought his son a billboard to recognize him as class valedictorian since the school refused to do so. East Wake High in Wendell, North Carolina recently got rid of naming valedictorians and salutatorians. Instead, they give all high-achieving students Latin honors for a “better way to recognize students who may have barely missed being named valedictorian or salutatorian by several decimal places," according to the News & Observer.

High schools are increasingly ditching giving the graduating senior with the top grades in his or her respective class the traditional valedictorian award, (Wall Street Journal)“I think it’s pretty stupid, and I don’t think it’s fair” said Ryan Walters, a promising student who most likely could have been a top contender for the award before his high school decided against giving it out. “Wake County is instilling in us that we shouldn’t try to be the best,” added Walters, commenting on his school district in Wake Forest, North Carolina.Heritage High School, Walters’ school, is not alone in getting rid of...

We’ve spent a fair amount of time over the past several years writing about the ‘participation trophy generation’ (a.k.a. “millennials) and, more specifically, how their inflated sense of entitlement and self-worth, irrespective of work effort and/or innate talent, would not serve them well in the real world. You see millennials, despite what your enabling handlers (a.k.a. “educators”) have told you your whole life, people here in the real world couldn’t care any less about your feelings, think your ‘Gender Studies’ degree was a complete waste of your parents’ money, will not promote you just because anything less would be a...

CARY, N.C. – The Wake County school board believes the decades long tradition of naming class valedictorians and salutatorians creates “unhealthy competition,” so they voted to end the practice. Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to ban high school principals from recognizing the top students with the titles and move to the Latin system that uses designations including cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude starting in 2018, The News Observer reports. “We have heard from many, many schools that the competition has become very unhealthy,” board chairman Tom Benton told the news site. “Students were not collaborating with...

Graduation ceremonies might still be going on if Dublin schools had asked all of its valedictorians to speak. There were 222 of them. That means two out of every 10 graduates at Dublin’s three high schools received top honors this year. [Snip] The valedictorian was once the single highest-performing graduate — and some districts, such as Hilliard and South-Western, still adhere to the practice. But experts say it’s more typical to see multiple valedictorians or none at all as educators try eliminate the competition among students to be No. 1 of their class.

Steffy and Stella Viju credit their work ethic, rather than intelligence, for rising to the top of Poteet High School’s Class of 2014. The identical twins couldn’t outwork each other, though. They took the same advanced classes and shared a local and international background in education. They even cite equal duty to take care of their little sister after school. No wonder it took more than one tiebreaker to separate Steffy, the valedictorian, from salutatorian Stella. “We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t be up there giving our speeches together,” Stella said. In the traditional salutatorian-valedictorian order of graduation...

Roy Costner, the High School Valedictorian who dared to deviate from his “pre-approved speech” and lead his peers in the Lord’s Prayer, joins Rick to talk about the bold move he took to glorify God. In the second half of today’s program, expert analyst and writer, Larry Edelson, joins us from Asia to discus the significance of three war cycles converging in 2015.

The school warned Remington Reimer that they'd stop him if he went off-script and talked about his faith, a warning they fulfilled moments after Reimer included it in his valedictory address to Joshua High School graduates. Despite the fact that other speakers mentioned God in their remarks, the school cut off Reimer's microphone in the middle of his explanation of how faith saw him through the travails of adolescence and school. Now, the local CBS affiliate's report puts Joshua Independent School District in Texas on the hot seat — and they don’t want to talk about it: Reimer thanked his...

<p>Recent news is both disheartening and I am sure, confusing to some of our young people in both the Military and High school’s across this nation. When yesterday's headlines read, “17 yr. old Valedictorians speech “Our Father, whom art in Heaven…. ” goes viral” and today’s headlines read, “‘Jesus Gun’ controversy in US Military,” one might think, what’s going on and/or where are the personal freedoms, once the backbone of a truly free Nation? Both headlines spotlight Warriors fighting battles neither started nor wanted. One fought half way across the globe and the other right here in small-town America’s backyard. Both are answers to attacks waged by radical cowards or Terrorists whose goal is the same, to eliminate all reference and worship of God (Christian of course) and to remove personal freedoms from this earth.</p>

A Texas high school silenced its Valedictorian’s microphone during his speech when he diverted from his pre-approved remarks and instead spoke about the Constitution.

PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. – A high school valedictorian from South Carolina ripped up his approved speech on stage this past weekend, and minutes later, delivered the Lord’s Prayer in defiance of the school district’s decision to no longer include prayer at graduation ceremonies. Roy Costner IV drew loud applause and cheers when he surprised attendees of the Liberty High School graduation at Clemson’s Littlejohn Colliseum on Saturday. “From the ACLU sending FOIA requests to every district in the state this year after the Chesterfield County case, then the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent us a complaint about religion at...

TACOMA, Wash. -- Among the jittery seniors waiting to walk out at Tacoma's Lincoln high school's graduation, is a 19 year old who is small in stature but big in achievement. Duc Nguyen moved to the U.S. with his family from Vietnam 4 years ago and didn't speak a word of English. He remembers kids making fun of him and thinking he'd never make it. But tonight he graduates with a 3.97 GPA and as class valedictorian. He insists his gift isn't intellect. He says he's a slow learner. But he makes up for it by working hard. His parents...