Imagine you're at home relaxing and enjoying your day then suddenly you get a visit from school leaders, greeting you with a loud cheer and crowning you the valedictorian and salutatorian for your class.
That's what happened to 2 Columbus High School seniors today.
Imagine you're at home relaxing and enjoying your day... then suddenly you get a visit from school leaders.... greeting you with a loud cheer and crowning you the valedictorian and salutatorian for your class.
That's what happened to 2 columbus high school seniors today..
Our quentin smith tagged along for the ride and was there as the seniors celebrated this big accomplishment... seniors jaikyeron dukes and aaliyah harris spent hours countless hours hitting the books and dedicating themselves to being the top students in their class academically.
Now they're finding out all of their hard work has finally paid off.
Nat as aaliyah harris stepped out of her house shocked and surprised by what's going on...she was greeted with a loud cheer... nat and received a medal given from her principal.... awarding her as the salutatorian for her high school class... it's a gesture that brought her to tears..
" just to know that all of the hard work that i've been doing is actually leading up to this point, and just to have this accomplishment, it's one of the greatest feelings."
But things didn't stop there... a few miles down the road...there was another surprise.
Nat this time...it was jaikyeron dukes finding out she's being crowned valedictorian.
Nat an accomplishment that also brought out a lot of emotion.
Nat " i did not feel this coming.
I knew that i was putting in the work for it, but i didn't really know i was going to be valedictorian, i thought my friend was going to get it actually, but this is exhilarating."
Nat what makes the moment even sweeter is harris and dukes are close friends, and when they found out they finished in the top two of their class, the classmates celebrated together... in the midst of the fun time.....the two acknowledged thay it took a lot of hard work, determination and dedication to get them to this point.
" i really doubted myself a lot, so the fact that i'm valedictorian out of almost 200, if not 200 people, this is an exciting moment for me."
" it feels good.
I've been working so hard, working all four years of my high school career, just trying to keep my grades up, keeping a job, so it was hard but it was worth it."
" everybody tells you it all starts in ninth grade, but before then i was already trying to keep all a's, and just give myself a foundation to build on."
As their high school career comes to an end, they soon-to-be- graduates want to use their success and their stories to help motivate the younger students coming up behind them.
" it doesn't matter what you do, you can have a job, you may get discouraged, it doesn't matter, you can still do it, you can still come out on top."
When it comes to thee college plans.
Harris wants to go to ole miss and major in criminal justice, then from there she wants to go into law school dukes is deciding whether to accept a full ride scholarship to rust college, or attend mississippi state where she plans to major in either biology or psychology.
Reporting in columbus.
Quentin smith.
Wcbi news.
Harris and dukes will give their speeches as the valedictorian and salutatorian.... which will air when the graduation ceremony is shown next