Nassau High School Names A Record 15 Valedictorians: Report

LONG ISLAND, NY — A record-breaking 15 students were named valedictorians of Jericho High School's class of 2023, Newsday reported.

Thanks to the school's formula which does not assign weight to courses based on their rigor, many students end up with a perfect GPA of 4.0, resulting in a multiple-way tie for the top of the class, according to the outlet.

Last year, there were eight valedictorians at Jericho. This year, that number has nearly doubled, and all 15 spoke at Sunday's commencement ceremony, for 90 seconds each, Newsday reported.

The Jericho High School 2023 valedictorians are as follows:

Christopher Gou
Elaine Jiao
Samuel Kane
Emily Kim
Dayoung-Grace Lee
Derek Minn
Joshua Ochalek
Ruoxi Qian
Zara Fatima Qizilbash
Sofia Safa
Tess Silverman
Danush Sinnan
Katie Tian
He-Hanson Xuan
Patrick Zhao

While some argue that having so many valedictorians take away the prestige of the honor, Hank Grishman, the school district's superintendent of 28 years, told Newsday that he feels "it's wonderful to recognize so many kids for their academic success over four years of their high school experience."

But the formula, which has been in place for multiple decades, might not be here to stay forever.

In January, the Jericho school board in January adopted a revised weighting system for its high school courses, to take effect in July — but school board president Jill Citron told Newsday that whether or not the new formula will impact the valedictorian system will be under discussion with input from students, teachers, and parents in the coming year.

Read the full report in Newsday.