It's time for WHHS commencement to showcase academic leaders

On Tuesday June 4th, I graduated from Woodland Hills High School with highest honors, along with six of my 263 classmates. We proudly walked across the stage to receive our diplomas wearing gold and red cords around our necks, representing Distinguished Honors, a 4.0 or greater cumulative grade point average, and membership in the National Honor Society.  The commencement ceremony was a beautiful culmination of the successes of the Class of 2013, however, to me, something was missing.  Although the student speakers, our class president and student council president, delivered moving speeches and the administrators sang the collective praises of the class as a whole, there was still an obvious lack of representation from the student academic point of view.  In my opinion, that would have added the perfect touch, especially for a landmark high achieving class like ours.

As the Editor-in-Chief of the Woodland Hills High School online and print newspaper, I began to write this editorial a month ago, in the days following the Academic Honors banquet and the National Honor Society inductions. At these events, many members of the administration proclaimed their pride in their honor students, and discussed how the District values education. This was when I first realized the hypocrisy —they lauded their highest achieving students, especially this year since our class was the first to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in WHHS history, yet they do not recognize them with speaking honors or individual recognition (other than the gold cord which you need to read the program to know what it represents) at the commencement ceremony, as do most other high schools in the nation.  I actually commend Woodland Hills for not using the valedictorian model, and instead all distinguished honors students are considered number one in the class. This eliminates the vicious competition present in some high schools for the “valedictorian” title, however schools such as Quaker Valley and North Allegheny that have recently done away with valedictorians surely are still individually recognizing their top students at graduation. 

I brought my draft editorial to the attention of a few long-tenured teachers who shared with me that they have been trying for years to urge the administration to adopt this policy.  These teachers see the students’ academic accomplishments, and they feel strongly that the District should be showcasing their highest achievers.  After gaining support from faculty, I met with Principal Stephens, and I was told the only course of action was to request the Class of 2013 student officers to add a commencement speaker, something a few other WHHS graduating classes have done in the past.  So, I presented my proposal to the class officers, but they shortsightedly voted no, citing in their opinion “it was too late”.  Even if the Class of 2013’s officers had voted yes to adding a distinguished scholar to speak at graduation, it most likely would not have set a precedent for future classes, because it still would have to be voted on each year. 

With strong faculty support, and an administration that seems to be warming up to the idea, it’s time to prove the District’s pride in its highest achieving academic students, and take action by petitioning the school board to add a Distinguished Scholar to the official list of commencement speakers.  If adopted, the handful of Distinguished Honors students each year could decide amongst themselves who will represent them at graduation, or even better, all craft a speech together.  Further, the Distinguished Honors students should be invited to sit on the podium with the school board similar to how it is done at the Pittsburgh Allderdice commencement exercises. 

I chose to attend Woodland Hills High School after nine formative years at the Falk Laboratory School of the University of Pittsburgh because I was looking for diversity, school spirit, and academic and extracurricular opportunities to grow in a larger environment.  To ensure that the next generation of high achieving students remains in the district, it is time to publicly show that you value these students outside of the classroom and closed events.  Just maybe this proposed special recognition at graduation would motivate a few students each year to aim a bit higher to reach this level of achievement.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the commencement stage had to be expanded to accommodate more than six Distinguished Scholars?

It was “too late” for the culture to change for the Class of 2013, but there is plenty of time for the next graduating classes of Woodland Hills High School.   Please join me in making your voice heard and being a change agent.