The valedictorians and salutatorians for the class of 2016 have been announced. This year, there will be 14 valedictorians: Emily Anderson, Emma Bird, Erin Falk, Lauren Goldstein, Lilly Johnson, Amanda Kautzer, Thomas Koch, Sarah Letscher, Rachel Lyons, Abbey Nichols, Matt Paal, Sam Rocheford, Brooke Stanley, and Charlie Wolfe. There will also be two salutatorians: Maddie Etienne and Sarah Krieger.

The class of 2016 holds the distinction of having the most valedictorians out of all previous graduating classes. “It seems that in the past five years, the number of valedictorians has been increasing,” high school principal Dr. Susan Skinner said.

Although the number of valedictorians that BSM selects has been criticized, BSM does not plan to change the requirements for future years. “Some people will look at the number and think ‘that’s too many,’ but the reality is that many students actually have a 4.0. So I don’t feel compelled to change how students qualify to be valedictorians. I think that it’s great that we have this many students who work this hard,” Skinner said.

BSM is proud of each of its valedictorians, and looks forward to celebrating each of them at graduation. “I’m very proud to be recognized as one of the valedictorians, and it’s good to know that my hard work has been recognized,” Paal said.