As the year draws to a close, so does the high school experience for our seniors. To acknowledge academic achievement over four years, North Atlanta recognizes two students in the senior class as valedictorian and salutatorian, the two students with the highest grade point averages. A third award – for the STAR student – goes to the student with the highest SAT score.

The Class of 2016’s valedictorian, salutatorian and STAR Student are Lydia Zemmali, Bethany Bell, and Wade Kovalik, respectively.

As the valedictorian, Zemmali truly has a view from the top. She played soccer, ran cross country, and obtained a scholarship for studying Arabic in Morocco in summer 2015. Zemmali will attend Stanford University. “I enjoyed high school,” she said. “I did different clubs and sports so I was able to meet a lot of different people from different grades. I also had some great teachers and a really good class.”

Bell, the salutatorian, will attend Georgia Tech in the fall. She said she believes all the work leading up to her accomplishment has been worth it. “My high school experience was really awesome,” said Bell. “It got better when I entered the IB program because it’s a smaller group. Even though the work is really hard, there are great teachers there and I got to know the other students really well.”

STAR Student Kovalik obtained the highest SAT score in the Class of 2016, getting a 2230. He is still undecided when it comes to college, since he is waitlisted at Georgia Tech and is waiting to see if he gets in. “If not, I’ll try applying to Kennesaw State and transferring in,” said Kovalik.

This year’s STAR Teacher is math teacher Christopher Manson. Kovalik nominated Manson for the award.

This year’s senior class is obviously abundant with high-achieving Warriors. Keep up the hard work and constant dedication in your classes and your name might be in the same places as Zemmali, Bell and Kovalik.