The class of 2023 experienced a major disruption when, during their freshman year, COVID-19 hit and fundamentally changed their school experience for well over a year. But they persevered through a pandemic and are ready for the next step. These metro Atlanta valedictorians featured here have worked hard to achieve academic success. They share their plans for the future. They also share wisdom and advice as well as some of their favorite high school memories. (In some cases, responses were edited for length.)
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Bralon Burgess
School system: Clayton County
High school: Riverdale High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Computer Science
Advice for freshmen: You have to just make the most out of the situations you’re in. Some things in life we don’t even see coming, but success can be built off of how quickly and efficiently someone responds to these events. This is especially important in freshman year since this is your starting blueprint to succeed in high school.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: Laziness or lack of motivation, as well as endurance. Many people just don’t want to do things anymore because they don’t want to put in hard work for it. Inversely, many people also expect to hit successful results quickly, giving up if they fail once or twice. Don’t get me wrong, I am guilty of doing these things from time to time, but it’s clear to me that I am far from the only one with this problem.
How optimistic are you about the future? I’m slightly optimistic about the future. I know past this point, life will get a whole lot more challenging, and in regards to the college I chose and the world we live in, I’m going to get knocked down. But my own spiritual beliefs as well as the loving support from my family will be my main motivation to keep going past these difficulties and eventually find my own form of success in this world.
Credit: Photo provided by Joella Alexander
Credit: Photo provided by Joella Alexander
Joella Alexander
School system: DeKalb County
High school: Stone Mountain High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Mechanical Engineering
Advice for freshmen: Enjoy your high school years and your youth. Learn to balance your studies with your fun times now because life after high school is going to be more challenging and will require the skill of time management and overall balance. Secondly, do not compare yourself to others; instead, use that energy to always aim to grow past who you were a month ago; any process, big or small, should be celebrated.
Favorite memory from high school: At the end of my Accelerated Multicultural Lit class, we did a Socratic seminar based on reading VOX ATL newspaper. We discussed various topics in this activity, and I loved it because it felt so raw and real. We all shared our perspectives and opinions on each topic and were open enough to agree to disagree when we felt differently. This activity allowed me to see all of my classmates and my teacher in a different light, I saw how much my mindset was similar to students who I barely talked to, and lastly, I saw how human we all were.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: I believe instant gratification will be the biggest struggle for my generation. To be more specific, I believe they struggle with detaching themselves from it and need to learn to enjoy the present moment more often.
Credit: Donna Permell
Credit: Donna Permell
Nosa Christopher
School system: DeKalb County
High school: Martin Luther King Jr. High School
College: Georgia State University
Intended major: Nursing
Advice for freshmen: Choose your friends wisely because the people you hang out with can either make or break your high school experience. Over time, you start to pick up their habits.
Helpful study habit: Structuring my time and placing which subjects I want to study on at a specific time. Using this method helps me stay grounded with time and keeps me productive.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: Adulthood. My generation has relied so much on others and technology for help that stepping into adulthood, everything that comes with it, like jobs and networking, will seem tricky and impossible.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am incredibly optimistic about the future. God has blessed me with a lot of accomplishments that will allow me to be successful in the future, and I plan not to take any for granted. I see that my future is bright, and I am excited to embark on my new journey.
Credit: Photo provided by Sophie Li
Credit: Photo provided by Sophie Li
Sophie Li
School system: DeKalb County
High school: Chamblee High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Biology
Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memory from high school was being nominated for homecoming court. Walking down the football field during halftime with the bright lights illuminating our student section filled me with so much pride, and I loved seeing the full spirit of our school.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: With the increasing expectations that are set for children and teens, I think one of the biggest challenges our generation will face is the danger of comparing yourself to others. It’s beneficial to have role models who push you to become a better person but when the comparisons reach an unhealthy level, it can become discouraging. Everyone has their own path and pace in life, and we’ll need to remember that in order to keep growing.
How optimistic are you about the future? I’m very optimistic about the future. Graduating high school is only the first step in our journeys and we have so many possibilities awaiting us. Knowing that I’m surrounded by such driven people gives me faith that we’ll work hard to succeed and fulfill our passions — creating a better world for us all.
Credit: Photo provided by Thomas Wainwright
Credit: Photo provided by Thomas Wainwright
Thomas Wainwright
School system: DeKalb County
High school: Druid Hills High School
College: Emory University
Intended major: Undecided
Advice for freshmen: Don’t obsess about your grades. The only thing that you can control is your effort. If you make sure that you always put in your best effort, results will follow naturally. Don’t be afraid to ask your teachers or peers for help if you’re struggling with something. Hard work and support from others are key to success now and in the future.
Favorite memory from high school: My favorite memories from high school are of spending time at local parks with my friends over quarantine. We would meet on weekends or when we didn’t have school and play sports, go running or just hang out and talk about our lives and the world around us. It really helped to keep me grounded during a stressful time.
How optimistic are you about the future? I’m not very optimistic that we will be able to solve many of the problems that lie in our future. It will take massive cultural shifts in order to address the challenges that face us, such as the climate crisis, persistent systemic inequalities and the alarming increase in censorship, and with the increasing divisions in the U.S. and around the world, these necessary changes seem incredibly unlikely.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Marilyn Abney
School system: Fulton County
High school: Riverwood International Charter School in Sandy Springs
College: Brown University
Intended major: International Affairs
Advice for freshmen: Don’t stress too much, but it never hurts to start thinking about the future. Having focused goals from the beginning and early progress toward those goals pays dividends. My freshman self made my senior life a lot easier.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: The current political and social climate has our nation more divided than ever. These divisions are heightened through the echo chambers of social media. It seems as if our country has lost the art of compromise, and I worry for how these divisions will spread into my generation and younger generations alike.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am cautiously optimistic. Between pandemics, the climate crisis, discrimination, and ongoing global conflicts, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless about the state of the world. However, I have been blessed with so many good people in my life, including peers who already have and are determined to continue making change in the world. Although the headlines make it difficult, I see enough good in the people around me to remain cautiously optimistic about our shared future.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Christine Carter
School system: Fulton County
High school: Creekside High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Software Engineering
Advice for freshmen: Every day is a new day to be a different, greater person. This is advice I would tell anyone, and for freshmen, I feel that this is especially important to remember in one of the many transient phases in life that is high school. I want them to remember that they can always dream bigger, and improve in something — very few things in life are fixed.
Helpful study habit: Commit to the process. If you simply say you are going to study just into midair, you probably will not do it. If you plan out exactly how you will fit that study session into your day, what you are studying and the method you will use — you create a vision and are more likely to do what it takes to realize it.
Favorite memory from high school: One of my favorite memories is being in my Honors Geometry teacher’s room in ninth grade. I would often come to her room during one of my free periods to work on assignments and to talk about geometry. I remember being joyful and excited about the future in those simple moments, just with my headphones in, listening to music.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am extremely optimistic about the future. I know what skills I have and I know that I will get more. And I will use them all to make the world better.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Samay Desai
School system: Fulton County
High school: Alpharetta High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Computer Science
Helpful study habit: Learn from people smarter than you.
Favorite memory from high school: A trip to New York City with a student organization that I am part of. It was the first time I had been there in several years, and even though it was so cold I could practically feel icicles forming on my face, the great food, spectacular sights, and vibrant company made it a truly unforgettable experience.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: Figuring out how to survive.
How optimistic are you about the future? I try to remain as optimistic as possible. Of course, there are issues that need solving, but I like to believe that the future is something worth working towards even though it might not always seem to be the case.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Hiteshri V Chudasama
School system: Gwinnett County
High school: Duluth High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Biology (premed track)
Advice for freshmen: Live a balanced high school life. Study, play sports, join fine arts, hang out with friends, participate in clubs, etc. These four years go by very quickly so take in all that you can.
Helpful study habit: Review at least three to five days before any major test. Last-minute cramming is not effective.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: Battling boundaries regarding social media and AI, reversing climate change and protecting the environment, etc.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am extremely hopeful about the future; I believe in those around me and also believe that if we unite and cooperate, we can accomplish anything!
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Jessica Duong
School system: Gwinnett County
High school: Shiloh High School
College: University of Georgia
Intended major: Pharmaceutical Sciences
Helpful study habit: Chunking. When I study for any assessments, I tend to start studying a few days before. I dedicate chunks of information to specific days to ensure that I am not overwhelmed by too much information all at once. This helps me to retain the information for a longer period of time.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: Social changes. Political issues will continue to be a source of conflict. It will be difficult to achieve any significant social advancements if there is so much tension.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am pretty optimistic about the future. I am really passionate about what I want to study and I’m excited to think about all of the ways I can make a difference in my future career.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Erika M. Tay
School system: Gwinnett County
High school: Lanier High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Computer Science
Helpful study habit: Read up on the topic before the teacher teaches the class. Do not be afraid to ask questions.
What are the biggest challenges your generation will face? Inequality, student debt, and mental health issues.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am optimistic that the future will be great as more advanced technologies emerge and develop in conjunction with the rapid synthesis of knowledge and discoveries to improve all aspects of our lives.
Credit: custom
Credit: custom
Courtney Johnson
School system: Clayton County
High school: Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts
Advice for freshmen: Be actively engaged in activities at school and in the community by joining clubs and organizations. School and community involvement is important because you will find that as you serve others and learn new skills, different opportunities will come your way and you learn more about what you may want to pursue as a career. Furthermore, I would encourage everyone to make sure they are always respectful to adults and to be kind to others. One last important piece of advice is to take advantage of tutorial sessions that may be offered if you don’t understand a concept or want to gain a better understanding on a given topic. Don’t be afraid or too proud to attend tutorial sessions. Even if you do understand the concept, still go to tutoring for extra practice.
Helpful study habit: I am a visual learner and a hands-on learner. Thus, study habits that are most helpful to me include making my own study guides and underling and highlighting the text for the given assignment. I also take advantage of using study tools that I find online such as online quizzes and games on sites such as Khan Academy, The College Board and Marco Learning, which allows me the opportunity to practice answering a variety of content–related questions.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: Learning how to communicate effectively. The world changed in a huge way with the pandemic. With that, our dependency on technology increased. That was a huge challenge in itself. In a blink of an eye, our lives came to a halt. We blindly tracked our way through as we tried to figure out how to socialize differently and how to make connections with others. During the pandemic, we didn’t have to talk to or see others in person. This distancing from others caused us to lose some of our social skills.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am excited about what the future holds for me and my future endeavors. There are so many opportunities that have been made available for me and those in my generation because of the dedication of those who came before me such as Kamala Harris, Viola Davis, Raven Wilkinson, to name just a few.
Credit: Photo provided
Credit: Photo provided
Shaunak Karnik
School system: Cobb County
High School: Pope High School
College: Georgia Tech
Intended major: Computer Science
Advice for freshmen: I would tell freshmen to enjoy their time in high school and live in the moment. The four years of high school fly by much quicker than many students think, and if you are constantly stressed or looking towards the future, you often forget to enjoy your time in high school. You will probably have much more responsibility and not see your hometown friends often after high school, so enjoy it while you are there.
Favorite memory from high school: One of my favorite memories from high school is participating in the campus cleanup with my friends. It was great seeing so many students and faculty members coming together to clean and renovate our school. Being able to contribute to the improvement of my school for future students and seeing the community come together for a common cause made this one of my favorite memories.
Biggest challenges your generation will face: The biggest challenges our generation will face will be trying to balance and responsibly use technology. Many new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, have great potential, but if they are used improperly, they can have negative impacts on society.
How optimistic are you about the future? I am very optimistic about the future. By learning to adapt to the many changes brought about by the pandemic, we are all much more resilient and prepared to tackle challenges in the future. Many technology industries are also rapidly growing and are sure to bring positive change to society.
