The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked valedictorians at metro Atlanta schools questions about their time in high school and their futures. Here’s what some graduates in Clayton and Fayette schools had to say. Students are listed alphabetically by last name within their counties. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Clayton County
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Haja Asmau Bah
- School: Elite Scholars Academy
- College: Georgia Tech
- Intended major: Aerospace engineering
- Helpful study habit: I often use the teaching method to study for my classes. I basically pretend to teach the information I need to know to an imaginary person.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory so far is my Orlando senior trip. It was a weekend to remember and I enjoyed spending time with my classmates.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I do feel like I am ready for life after high school. This comes from the fact that I have been a full-time dual enrollment student and I have other responsibilities outside the realm of what a high schooler should be handling. I feel that life after high school will be more freeing.
- What worries you about the future? I sometimes worry that I will lose my spark and the fire inside of me to reach for the highest that life has to offer.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Jame Hoang
- School: Jonesboro High
- College: Georgia Tech
- Intended major: Computer engineering
- Advice for freshmen: As a freshman, exploring your interests and discovering what you want to pursue in your high school career is important. You have the time to build your path, so take advantage of it. It’s OK to make changes along the way, but focus on figuring out who you are and what you want to achieve.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite high school experience was going to Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, with the Majestic Marching Cardinals. It was a unique culture that I was exposed to for the first time. The best parts of the trip were picking up beads and seeing who could collect the most. I remember the relief and joy of completing each parade.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I believe that I am mostly prepared to take on the responsibilities of being an adult and attending college. However, life is full of experiences and learning opportunities, and one cannot fully prepare for everything that comes after high school. There will always be unexpected circumstances that we must learn from.
- What worries you about the future? The future worries me most when it is unpredictable. I hope to learn to anticipate the unexpected, so if something ends up going in a different direction than I wanted, I’ll be able to work through it.
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Laila Johnson
- School: Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts
- College: University of Southern California
- Intended major: Business administration/marketing
- Advice for freshmen: Make connections and maintain supportive relationships, but also put yourself and your mental health first. Stay true to yourself and be willing to stand alone at times if necessary.
- Favorite memory from high school: The memory that stands out to me is prepping for a theater performance with my classmates in junior year. We were all incredibly stressed and concerned that the show wouldn’t flow well and were ill-prepared overall. But we pushed through together and all rejoiced over getting through our fears.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I do feel like I’m ready because I’ve made amazing connections and friends who will continue providing support. I’ve also set goals and expectations for the direction I want to go in once I get to college.
- What worries you about the future? The distance. Being so far away from family and friends is concerning, especially after spending my entire life in Clayton County, Georgia. I’m aware that it will take some major adjustments during this transition to a completely new state and way of living, but I’m up for the challenge!
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
India Loechinger
- School: Lovejoy High
- College: University of Chicago
- Intended major: Computer science
- Advice for freshmen: Life doesn’t end at your first heartbreak, first failure, first hardship. Whatever you feel like now will probably be a distant memory in 10 years. Don’t do anything permanent.
- Helpful study habit: Always reword an explanation in the way you best understand it; don’t memorize textbook definitions or strategies.
- Favorite memory from high school: My junior prom is probably my favorite memory — it was way different and more enjoyable than I expected.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I wouldn’t say I’m ready, but just like everything else I’ve been through, I know I can adapt to change wherever I go.
- What worries you about the future? Lack of youth political interest. I’m seeing a rise of non-voter attitudes or single-issue vote attitudes. It’s not sustainable or realistic and should be addressed.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Dylan Nelson
- School: Mundy’s Mill High
- College: Georgia Tech
- Intended major: Mechanical engineering
- Advice for freshmen: Start preparing yourself early, and take whatever opportunity you can to try something new, whether that be clubs or sports.
- Helpful study habit: Pay your full attention in class, and measure the amount of time it’ll take you to understand. Add exactly one hour to the amount of time you expect it to take to finish the assignment and give yourself wiggle room to complete it.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory from high school would most likely be my senior year regional win in FIRST Robotics. We were down by a drastic amount of positions and close enough to get disqualified, yet we managed to pull through in the end to get No. 1.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I believe I’m more than ready for the road left ahead of me. Though there are worries about future failure, I plan on living a life of failures that build into success stories, which leaves me quite eager to see what’s next.
- What worries you about the future? I mostly worry that my achievements have been for naught and that my efforts might wash away on the shore. Even still, the future is bright, and I only await in anticipation.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Hien Nguyen
- School: Forest Park High
- College: Georgia State University
- Intended major: Finance
- Advice for freshmen: Work hard and play later!
- Helpful study habit: Don’t procrastinate. You should always try to do the assignment on the day it was assigned to you, or create a layout of what you should do for the days leading up to the due date.
- Favorite memory from high school: Being in the Asian Student Association Club. Every year in February, we would host the Lunar New Year festival, and it was extremely fun! Additionally, we engage in outdoor activities in order to connect with one another and relax away from the stresses of school.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I am prepared for the school aspects after I graduate. However, to be considered an adult and have many responsibilities, thinking about that stresses me out!
- What worries you about the future? The future is uncertain to me as well as anyone else, but I will do my best regardless of what happens!
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Hoang Phan
- School: Riverdale High
- College: University of Georgia
- Intended major: Biology (pre-med)
- Advice for freshmen: I’d say your freshman year is the most important year of high school. You become the people you hang around, so surround yourself with individuals smarter than you.
- Helpful study habit: I would say my most helpful study habit would be searching up on YouTube “study music” and listening to it while I study. Some people like to study to their favorite songs but I find that to be very distracting.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory from high school would be game nights for the volleyball team. I was the manager of my school’s volleyball team and I really enjoyed the bus rides to the games, the excitement during each game and the talks afterward on the way home.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? Honestly, a part of me feels like I’m ready for life after high school and the other part of me doesn’t. I will take every opportunity and obstacle as a blessing because I know some people are not offered the same chances as me.
- What worries you about the future? Something that worries me about the future is the principle of failure as a whole. I’m on the pre-med track, so the thought of failure and the stress that will come always gets to me.
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Jorge Ramirez
- School: Mount Zion High
- College: Georgia Tech
- Intended major: Computer engineering
- Advice for freshmen: Always do your work and try your best to not fall behind.
- Helpful study habit: Explain what you’re learning to someone else.
- Favorite memory from high school: The trade simulations we would do in economics class.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? No, but no one is ever truly “ready.” Everyone is doing their best with what they know.
- What worries you about the future? Not being able to get a sustainable job.
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Sa’Niyah Snell
- School: North Clayton High
- Postgraduate plans: U.S. Navy
- Advice for freshmen: Just try to stay focused but don’t stress yourself out too much about school work. Have fun.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory from school would probably be spending time with my friends in gym class in 11th grade.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I feel ready but not ready to live my life after high school.
- What worries you about the future? Failure is a big worry that I have for the future. But I know deep down that I’m going to make a lot of mistakes because that’s normal. I also know that I’m always going to get better from making mistakes so I’m working on not worrying about failing.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Samrich Sreng
- School: Morrow High
- College: Georgia Tech
- Intended major: Computer engineering
- Advice for freshmen: Start learning how to study, even if you are doing well without studying.
- Favorite memory from high school: Playing tennis.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I feel like I am ready for life after high school and the freedom of being able to choose what I can do with my life.
- What worries you about the future? I worry that I will be put under more stress due to more responsibilities.
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Alexis Sykes
- School: Perry Career Academy
- College: Kennesaw State University
- Intended major: Engineering
- Advice for freshmen: Stay content in your work and yourself! Don’t procrastinate, you will stress yourself out way more and study constantly. Read!! Stay true to yourself always! Also don’t be afraid to speak up, it’s OK to need help.
- Helpful study habit: My most helpful study habit is time management. I like to wake up early, freshen myself up, make breakfast and sit down and study for about three hours. Take a break, then recap everything.
- Do you feel like you’re ready for life after high school? I do feel like I am ready for life after high school. There is definitely a lot more work that needs to be done but I feel like I’m on the right track.
- What worries you about the future? I try not to worry so much about the future because the Bible says in Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I try to stay in the present and let God work the rest and have me prepared for the next.
Fayette County
Credit: E. Brown
Credit: E. Brown
Emily Balsam
- School: Fayette County High
- College: Georgia Tech
- Intended major: Biomedical engineering
- Advice for freshmen: I would advise freshmen to establish study habits early on. Classes in ninth grade might not necessarily require much studying, but when you form a studying habit early, it won’t be a struggle once you start taking harder classes that do require lots of studying and practice.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory is singing in the middle of AP Physics. There was a form where the class could submit song suggestions to listen to while we did our work. It was a small class, but my best friend and I would basically put on entire performances every time songs we knew would come on. My side of the table was known for submitting at least 10 Taylor Swift songs every single day. My teacher probably was relieved at the end of the school year because she wouldn’t have to deal with my best friend and me singing horrendously first thing in the morning.
- What worries you about the future? I am worried about having to drive the Grady Curve to get to Georgia Tech. The only time I tried to drive it, there were tears and I’m pretty sure I saw my life flash before my eyes.
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Jessica Gorski
- School: Whitewater High
- College: University of Georgia
- Intended major: Accounting
- Advice for freshmen: I would tell freshmen to take advantage of every opportunity at their disposal. After their time in high school, their biggest regrets will be not signing up for a certain club or taking a chance on a new hobby. Everything is worth doing and trying during this time of our lives.
- Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory is working with my friends as a junior marshal for the 2023 graduation. It was amazing to be able to be on the field with my sister as she walked across the stage and to be able to play such an important role in her graduation ceremony.
- What worries you about the future? The thing that worries me most about the future would definitely be leaving behind the people who have loved and supported me up to this point. I am so afraid to be without my parents and best friends when I embark on my new life in college.
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