Being in the top 10% of your class is impressive by itself. Alice Xu, a graduating senior, took it one step further by being ranked due to her outstanding grade point average. Thus, she currently ranks as one of the top students in class of 2023 with approximately a 4.88 GPA. Alice’s hard work, dedication and intelligence should be recognized as this is a huge accomplishment.
Some may be wondering why she is not, and will not, be titled as the class of 2023 valedictorian. Guidance counselor, Mrs. Carmichael, also doubles as the graduation coordinator. “Hudson does not name a valedictorian and a salutatorian. We use the cum laude system which has students being designated by GPA. Hudson ranks only the top 10% of the class without specified places because it can fluctuate over time. During senior meetings, if a student falls in the top 10% of the class we will let them know. If they then request to know their exact rank, we can let them know at that time but know that it could change because GPA’s are calculated at the end of the semester and end of the year.”
Even though there is no official naming of valedictorian in Xu’s future, she doesn’t mind this at all. “I feel like it is something that shouldn’t be celebrated as much because I think that you can be a bad person and still be valedictorian. I don’t think those types of people should be recognized if they are pure intelligence.”
Xu holds a strong stance on the idea that school, test scores and overall intellect should not rule an entire person’s life. “I’d much rather have someone recognized as valedictorian if they seriously showed their character throughout high school and were a really good person to everyone.”
One thing she knew she had to do was sacrifice. She needed to devote time to oneschool which meant she did not have as much free time for non-academic extracurriculars. “There were a lot of nights where I just couldn’t go out and see anyone because I needed to study. You have to be willing to make that decision if you want those sorts of grades. But that’s not for everybody.”
With this, she stresses the importance of understanding that some of your friends will not understand. “Realize what it is you need to accomplish your goals while working on them for yourself and yourself only.”
Xu’s involvement at Hudson went beyond the late night study sessions. She is part of Student Government and National Honor Society, as well as many other proactive clubs and committees. For most, the extra involvement in clubs and committees would just be seen as add-ins on workload. For Xu, she sees them as opportunities. “I think being part of all of the extracurricular activities definitely helped me because I was able to build connections that ended up helping me in the long run. A lot of the time by building connections with teachers through committees, those teachers are more willing to help in my classes. So, the class can be easier because those teachers will now know who I am beyond the typical classroom and they are willing to invest in me. To be frank, there is a lot of favoritism in this school. If teachers like you, they will help you.”
Xu takes on a stance about club and committee opportunities at Hudson. While some can be found in your email, others are more exclusive. Xu says sometimes that taking on certain projects for teachers creates the committee itself. For others it might not be as known as how to participate. “A lot of the time it’s about connections between your friends and teachers or staff. Our school is kind of like an oligarchy because there’s a class of students who will do all of the stuff. These are the types of people administrators will go to for future planning. It is definitely not publicized either. They’ll ask, we do it, it gets done and that’s that. Honestly the more you spend time here, the more you’ll realize that you just need to have the right ins and right connections with a few ideas of your own.”
Xu mentions that she thrives on academic validation and believes that this is what helped push her to exceed expectations. Her number one priority throughout school was to keep her grades up. “I never really thought about being ranked, I just wanted to keep my grades at an A or A plus. My advice would be to not go into it based on wanting to be ranked number one or even in the top 10%.”
She recognizes that everyone is different which can completely alter the way you approach things. “For me, how I perform in school has always been a base. It’s my basic expectation for myself to do well academically. Once you set that you can do well in school, it will get easier and easier. Thus, this leads to more involvement beyond the classroom. Xu also emphasizes the idea to take classes that you know you will enjoy learning about. “Yeah last year I took difficult classes, but I knew I liked all of those topics so I was willing to step up to the challenge and still try hard. I think it’s really hard to do well in classes you don’t like because you will lack the motivation.” Still, she reminds us that school is not everything.
As a graduating senior, Xu is ready to take on the challenge that college brings. Though the application and decision process is stressful, she believes that colleges do not focus solely on grades. “Even with test scores, a bunch of these colleges are going test-optional. I just feel like the ACT and SAT test scores are not as important as they once were. It’s more of what you can do with what you’ve learned in high school, academically and socially. What is your potential in the real world? It’s about thinking outside of the box and taking who you are and running with it. My overall advice for anyone in school is to recognize what you’re good at and capitalize on it. For me, I know I’m good at school, so I thrived on it. But if you’re not, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful.”
Xu wants to make it known to everyone that there are so many different and unique ways to be successful. School is not everything. Focus on being a good person and the rest will fall into place.
In order for Xu to be able to stand where she is today, she had to first push through a tough mindset barrier that many high school students have. “I feel like I constantly see people thinking that they can’t do well in school which causes them to legitimately not do well. You just have to have the mindset of someone who is going to do well. Always bet on yourself.”
Overall, she is proud of herself. As she currently stands as one of the top students in the graduating class of 2023, it is no doubt that she will succeed for years to come.
