Jessica Lin’s eyes widened as she stared at the number three printed at the bottom of her report card at the start of her junior year at Carnegie. Number three out of 248 was the rank she was assigned no less than a year ago. There was a slight flutter in her chest that was linked to her achievement. Although the class of 2022 was not intended to see their rank until the second semester of their junior year, the minute the first semester report cards were sent off, the race to number one began.

Although unintentional, Lin’s way to the top was one of close calls and hard work, yet she stayed humbled throughout the process and as she found out that she was number three and later on the valedictorian.

“When I found out I was like, well, that’s pretty cool,” said Lin.

Although the way to the top of a class of 248 may seem anxiety inducing and consisting of countless nights of no sleep, Lin is an anomaly in a valedictorian world of non-stop stress and studying. Lin explains that throughout middle school and high school studying for hours at home was not a common event. More often than not, her time management skills allowed her to finish most of her work at school, and left minimal duties for her to complete at home. She mentions that until AP Macroeconomics she had never truly sat down for hours studying for a test. This concept seems foreign and almost alien to most, when thinking of how someone ranked number one in their class of a prestigious school, achieved the highest award a high schooler could achieve, merely by allocating her time efficiently.

“Okay, I do not study as much as I probably should…realistically, if you want to succeed at Carnegie, you should probably study more and have better work habits than I do,” says Lin.

Lin also mentions that her parents were not the cliche tiger parents that a stereotypical Asian student might have. Although they were supportive of her grades, and wanted her to achieve high, they never put unneeded pressure on her to get top grades, simply that she tried her hardest. Lin appears laid back and nonchalant about her achievement as a Valedictorian, because her goal was never to compete for the accomplishment, simply to get good grades for her own self satisfaction.

“My parents are not involved with my grades…I pushed myself to achieve high.”

Although Lin didn’t study as much as others believed she might, she credits much of her success to time management and her ability to memorize well. She speaks over the notion that memorizing was a helpful tool in most classes, up until she entered Ms. Chen’s class for AP Calculus. In that class, Lin had to actually learn and apply the concepts herself as she simply couldn’t just memorize a formula, she had to apply it in many different formats on her exams. She explains that although her achievement as valedictorian consisted of hard work over four years of high school, gaining that achievement was never her initial goal.

“Getting Valedictorian was never my top goal, I just always wanted to get straight A’s, just for that kind of self satisfaction,” says Lin.

Lin also explains that managing her time didn’t only consist of academics. She managed to complete all her assignments whilst being the president of the Red Cross Club, being on the board of directors for Interact Club, and playing for the CVHS soccer team. She explains that most clubs meet during lunch at Carnegie and she took advantage of SSEP to complete assignments so she did not have mountains of work waiting for her at home. She explains that over the past two years, due to COVID and what some might call senioritis, her work ethic has definitely decreased slightly, yet her grades stayed consistent.

“I feel like my freshman and sophomore year I definitely studied more and I actually went home and did homework…because now I don’t want to go home and start on my homework or anything,” says Lin.

Lin plans to attend college next year, but she is still undecided as she has not received all of her acceptance letters yet. She plans to major in Biology and minor in Creative Writing and pursue pre-med. She has applied to a collection of elite colleges such as Duke, Stanford, MIT, and all of the Ivy’s except Dartmouth. She is excited to continue her academic career, and later on become a doctor, but she is not dead set on any one college and is keeping her mind open for when her acceptance letters begin to trickle in.

“I don’t have a college in mind because I’m pretty indecisive. Once results come out then, hopefully, you know, I get the option to choose between a few, “ says Lin

Although achieving Valedictorian at a high ranked school, such as Carnegie may seem cutthroat and highly competitive, Lin advocates for CVHS’s supportiveness and community. She explains that within her four years, she has never truly experienced hyper-levels of rivalry for grades and has only felt the gratitude and appreciation her classmates share amongst themselves. Her peers and close friends instead of feeling jealous or slighted, were elated with her accomplishment, which made Lin even more ecstatic about accomplishing Valedictorian.

“They’ve all been very congratulatory and supportive, and, yeah, it feels really good,” says Lin.