The 2018 valedictorians and salutatorians have finally been announced. This year’s graduating class includes five valedictorians: Lauren Copland, Ryan Frost, Santiago Lambert, Ben Larson, and Abby Letscher. In addition, the class of 2018 has four salutatorians: Ian Black, Quinn Ehlen, Michael Hunter, and Anna Keller.

This year’s graduating class has a noticeably smaller number of valedictorians and salutatorians than previous years. While 2016 and 2017 blustered a respective 14 and 13 valedictorians alone, 2018 has a combined total of only nine valedictorians and salutatorians. However, while the number of valedictorians seems to be dwindling down from the record-high number of 14 who graduated only two years ago (2016 still holds the school record for the largest number of valedictorians in a single year), the number of salutatorians graduating each year seems to be on the rise. “I am happy that the hard work paid off,” Ehlen said.