At Jericho High School, the top spot came with company this year. The Long Island school has 21 valedictorians, all of them earning a perfect GPA by getting an A+ in every class across all four years of high school.
“I think it’s so amazing,” said valedictorian Liv Akiva. “We have such a strong community here at Jericho, especially among the valedictorians.”
It is a record for the school. The previous record was 15 students.
Co-principal Brian Cummings said students need a 97 or higher average in a class to earn an A+.
“It shows a lot of success,” Cummings said. “Historically this is the way we’ve done it with letter grades. The difference between a 99.8 and a 99.83 is insignificant so letter grades really capture what we represent.”
set=”UTF-8″ src=”https://nbcnewyork.com/portableplayer/?CID=1:2:6501224&videoID=2499845699793&origin=nbcnewyork.com&fullWidth=y&autoplay=true”>The students reached that mark while taking advanced courses including AP Physics and Multi Variable Calculus.
“I took Calculus BC, that was one of the most hardest classes I’ve ever taken in high school,” said valedictorian Harnoor Joneja. “And I was a little bit concerned about losing it this year, but I tried hard and kept my average up.”
Usually, the valedictorian gives a speech at graduation. With 21 students sharing the title, the school plans to create a video to play instead.
“The students will wear sashes that say valedictorian 2026,” Cummings said. “We are trying to create other opportunities to celebrate this incredible accomplishment.”
Valedictorian Tommy Yuan said the group stayed supportive of each other.
“Despite all the competitiveness there’s still a lot of collaboration and we are all trying to bring each other up as we go,” Yuan said.
“What’s wrong with recognizing their hard work?” said superintendent of schools Dr. Robert Kravitz. “We should celebrate as many as we can because they’re showing that they care about what they are doing.”
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