For years, an unweighted GPA has been the pinnacle of achievement for Tualatin High School students, but in two years’ time, the world is going to change. Starting with the graduating Class of 2027, the selection process for valedictorians will no longer be dependent on the unweighted 4.0. It will be measured by the highest weighted GPA. This adjustment in procedure is going to change the game in scholastic competition, granting only the highest academically achieving student the highest form of schoolwide recognition.
In 2024, the title of valedictorian was granted to not one but 27 students, all possessing the necessary honors cord and 4.0 grade point average. The more common the title is, the less prestige it carries. Under the new requirement, students who receive higher marks in IB classes (and who academically apply themselves throughout all four years) will have a shot at becoming the sole recipient of a coveted academic honor. This carries with it the utmost prestige.
When you make the title dependent on an unweighted GPA, you eliminate students who take harder courses and fail to maintain an A. Students taking IB courses will no longer have to think about what getting a lower grade in a more advanced class might cost them. Instead, they will need to consider their own capacity to build their weighted GPA.
Some might argue that keeping the requirement of an unweighted 4.0 GPA allows more students of varying levels a chance at becoming valedictorians. Maintaining a perfect unweighted GPA throughout the entirety of high school and acquiring an honors cord is more than impressive, and an academic achievement in and of itself. Despite that, I believe that when you are giving an award for academic excellence, you should give it to the person who has excelled furthest, beyond simply succeeding in grade-level courses.
The singularity of being valedictorian was slowly eroded by the broad requirement to acquire the title. Starting in 2027, the one student who most supersedes the expectations of a high school education will receive the title of class valedictorian.
