Lisa Hawthorne: G. Ray Bodley High School Class Of 2021 Valedictorian, Salutatorian

To the Editor,

I would like to set the community straight as there seems to be a lot of confusion on who this year’s Valedictorian and Salutatorian are at G Ray Bodley High School in Fulton.

To begin with, a small school based committee decided at the beginning of this year to eliminate the Valedictorian/Salutatorian distinction, effective immediately. I would refer you to them for an explanation as it is still not clear to me. Members of the School Board had no knowledge of this. Many attempts from interested parents to engage in productive dialogue with the Principal and Superintendent fell on deaf ears.

So, technically, there was no Valedictorian or Salutatorian but it was known amongst students which two finished first and second. This elimination of distinction was never communicated to the public, or communicated to parents and students other than a small paragraph buried in the covid plan that came out in September.

Since there were no traditional Valedictorian and Salutatorian speeches, class officers gave the speech. This was not announced or communicated to the crowd so, of course, they thought it was the Valedictorian/Salutatorian speech. It so happens that the student who finished first in the class was one of the officers and should have been named Valedictorian but the other student was NOT second in the class. She is a great student but is erroneously believed to be Salutatorian.

This is a huge disservice to the student who earned and deserves this distinction and shame on the Principal for letting this happen.

So, even if G Ray Bodley has chosen not to distinguish these students, let me set the record straight and give credit where credit is due. I proudly would like to recognize Emma Weaver as Valedictorian and Olivia Hawthorne as Salutatorian of G Ray Bodley High School Class of 2021.

Thank you

Lisa Hawthorne

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