CLASS of 2015Celebrating

Gwinnett County Public Schools May 2015

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Table of Contents

We dont receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves

after a journey that no one can take for us

Marcel Proust

A Salute to Our Seniors 1

Celebrating the Class of 2015 2

Valedictorians and Salutatorians 6

STAR Students 8

Scholarships and Recognitions 9

Gwinnett Student Leadership Team 16

Graduation Schedule inside back cover

This publication captures a snapshot of the Class of 2015, with photos, facts, and just a few of the scholarships and awards garnered by members of this outstanding group of students. We know that many, many more of our students earned prestigious honors and scholarships that are not part of this publication. And we estimate that listing just the names of all of our graduates would take 74 pages! Congratulations to all of the members of the Class of 2015.

We are so very proud of you!

Front Cover: A Grayson senior emerges from an inflatable maze during the Senior Picnic.Back Cover: Mountain View seniors celebrate receiving their caps and gowns.

A SAlute to our SeniorSAfter 2,340 days in the classroom more than 15,000 hours if anyones counting and all those book reports, school lunches,

weekend projects, pop quizzes, bus rides, club meetings, field trips, service hours, and concerts and sporting events, it comes to this more than 11,000 GCPS seniors will be crossing the stage later this month. Our 21 diploma-granting high schools will hold graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2015, starting with Collins Hill High School graduates on May 20 and wrapping up with Dacula grads on May 24.

The members of Gwinnett County Public Schools largest-ever class have a lot going for them as they head off to college and careers. In the fall, most seniors 83% are headed to universities, colleges, and postsecondary schools in Georgia and around the country, with one in every five college-bound graduates offered at least one scholarship. As of April 2015, our graduates have been offered more than $154.6 million in academic, athletic, and military scholarships, the largest-ever scholarship tally for GCPS. Academic achievement earned offers of more than $84 million. Whats significant is the number and amount of scholarships that were not yet announced when senior information was compiled in April, including HOPE awards (typically, about a third of graduates), some National Merit Scholars, another $500,000 for GCPS 26 Broad Scholars, or the full-ride scholarships awarded to GCPS 13 Gates Millennium Scholars and 31 QuestBridge Scholars. Student athletes earned more than $64.6 million in athletic scholarships, also a record. (See page 9.)

Four of the nations military service academies Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy offered appointments to 15 young leaders, a total of $5.8 million in scholarships. Another 426 seniors also will serve their country through military service after graduation. About 800 students will enter the workforce after high school, many armed with credentials and certificates earned through our technical education program and sought after by local employers.

A record number of seniors are graduating with a grade percent average of 90 or better. Among our 2,523 Honor Graduates are each schools highest-ranking students the valedictorian (1st in class) and the salutatorian (2nd in class). (See page 6.) Nearly half of Gwinnett seniors took on the challenge and rigor of college-level Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses their last year in high school, taking a total of 12,464 AP or IB classes, another record. In addition, a record-breaking 459 seniors were dual-enrolled, earning both high school and college credit.

Were so proud of these young people who have worked so hard to prepare for the

latest chapter in their lives. Good luck, Class of 2015!

Seniors at Brookwood High School model workplace attire on Career Day.

The North Gwinnett High School Class of 2015.

2Click here to enjoy more scenes from Senior Week celebrations around the county.Celebrating the

Class of 2015 Fun facts, figures, and photos from our graduating seniors

Meadowcreek High School has four Broad Scholars, the most of all GCPS high schools.

A Duluth grad earned both a

QuestBridge and a Gates Millennium

scholarship.

Of Mountain View grads with college plans, 86% will attend a four-year institution.

Every GSMST senior took at least one AP course and exam during senior year.Lanier the districts smallest regular high

school has the smallest senior class (334 students) among traditional schools.

A South Gwinnett graduate is the districts only Coca-Cola Scholar.

Mountain View seniors get a s

neak

peak at Graduation gear.

Meadowcreek seniors picnic on the lawn.

Grayson students sign each others yearbooks during the Senior Picnic.

GSMST seniors celebrate at Dave and Busters.

Four graduates have attended Gwinnett Online Campus all through high school.

More than 230 students will earn a diploma through the non-traditional program at Phoenix High School.

Duluth seniors figure out

where they go next.

A Grayson grad is a U.S. Presidential Scholar, one of only three in the state.

3Members of GCPS largest senior class (799), Mill Creek students were offered almost $22 million in scholarship honors.

Archer had three military service academy appointments.

With a GPA of 90% or higher, 41% of North Gwinnett seniors are Honor Grads.

Ninety Brookwood seniors gained college credit and experience through dual enrollment.

At Shiloh, 23% of seniors plan to attend a college out of state.

At Peachtree Ridge, 90% of seniors have postsecondary education plans.

Central Gwinnett seniors took more AP classes during high school than any other class in school history.

The Norcross Class of 2015 includes 60 IB Diploma students and 156 course candidate students. This is the largest group of IB Diploma students since the program began at Norcross.

Daculas senior class reported 10,297 service hours.

With nine, Collins Hill High has the most Georgia Scholars in Gwinnett.

Berkmar boasts the most QuestBridge Scholars (8).

Parkview seniors were offered $8.3 million in academic

scholarships.

Peachtree Ridge College DayCentral Gwinnett

seniors show off the

Class of 15 T-shirt.

Archers

Valedictorian

and Salutatorian

are twins

Parkview seniors in this AP Government class don shades and senior shirts for the class picnic.

and so are two of their QuestBridge scholars!

4GCPS Seniors are

not acting their age?

nerds?

characters?

competitors?

5not acting their age?

royalty!

62015 Valedictorians and SalutatoriansArcher High School

Collins Hill High School

Brookwood High School

Duluth High School

Berkmar High School

Dacula High School

Central Gwinnett High School

Grayson High School

Mary Beth MahaffeyValedictorian

Aksal VashiValedictorian

Ryan Chen Valedictorian

Kishan ChudasamaValedictorian

Jennifer VezeauValedictorian

Shah KhanValedictorian

Sally TranValedictorian

Amelia MelasValedictorian

John MahaffeySalutatorian

Kenneth WilliamsSalutatorian

Laboni HoqueSalutatorian

Vishnu RamachandranSalutatorian

Yash ShirsathSalutatorian

Juan Eduardo MartinezSalutatorian

Rhodalene Benjamin-Addy

Salutatorian

Douglas Byron Allen StewartSalutatorian

72015 Valedictorians and SalutatoriansGwinnett School of Mathematics,

Science, and Technology

Mountain View High School

Meadowcreek High School

North Gwinnett High School

Lanier High School

Norcross High School

Mill Creek High School

Gwinnett Online Campus

Joshua BrunnerValedictorian

Kasey BellValedictorian

Christina BuiValedictorian

Elton LossnerValedictorian

Katherine Victoria Harrison

Valedictorian

Ethan ChervonskiValedictorian

Abigail HarrisonValedictorian

Dain SongValedictorian

Grayson NoahSalutatorian

Gabrielle MarquezSalutatorian

Lilian HoangSalutatorian

Megan PaikSalutatorian

Birk EvavoldSalutatorian

Jarod SjogrenSalutatorian

Ji Hee MinSalutatorian

Matthew ChenSalutatorian

82015 Valedictorians and Salutatorians

2015 Star StudentsEach STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition) student is the senior in the top 10% of his or her class with the highest SAT score. The STAR students from Brookwood High School, Duluth High School, and Parkview High School tied for designation as Gwinnett Countys 2015 STAR Student for having the highest SAT scores among the districtwide Class of 2015. These three students also won region honors. As part of the recognition, each STAR student selects a teacher as an educator who had a strong influence on his or her academic career. Local sponsors of the event include the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineGeorgia Campus, The University of GeorgiaGwinnett Cam-pus, Delta Community Credit Union, Georgia Power, Peach State Federal Credit Union, Delta Kappa Gamma, and Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation Fund.

Parkview High School

Shiloh High School

Peachtree Ridge High School

South Gwinnett High School

Kexin ZhangValedictorian

Qsanet Negassi TekieV