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Communique Gwinnett County Public Schools May 2021 CelebratingCelebrating the Class of 2021 CLASS of 2021 The Gwinnett County Board of Education congratulates the Class of 2021! The future is bright for the graduating seniors of the Class of 2021! Click here to see video links from the Gwinnett County Board of Education, joined by CEO/Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks, sharing their greetings and well-wishes for the future. Congratulations to our graduates! 437 Old Peachtree Rd., NW • Suwanee, GA 30024-2978 • (678) 301-6000 www.gcpsk12.org 2021 Gwinnett County Board of Education Everton Blair, Jr., 2021 Chairman, District IV; Karen Watkins, 2021 Vice Chairman, District I; Steven B. Knudsen, District II; Dr. Mary Kay Murphy, District III; and Dr. Tarece Johnson, District V J. Alvin Wilbanks, CEO/Superintendent It is the policy of Gwinnett County Public Schools not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability in any employment practice, educational program, or any other program, activity, or service. Communiqué is produced by Gwinnett County Public Schools’ Department of Communications and Media Relations. Thanks to the staff and administrators who helped us honor our seniors in this issue. Special thanks to our students for sharing their talents in this publication. This publication captures a snapshot of the Class of 2021, with photos, performances, and just afe w of the scholarships and awards garnered by members of this outstanding group of students. We know that many, many more of our students earned prestigious honors and scholarships that are not part of this publication. And we estimate that listing just the names of all of our graduates would take 88 pages! Congratulations to all of the members of the Class of 2021. We are so very proud of you! Table of Contents A Salute to Our Seniors 1 National, State, and Local Scholarships 9 Celebrating the Class of 2021 2 Other Special Honors 14 Valedictorians and Salutatorians 6 Front cover: Senior Jazmyn Wright from Discovery HS. You can find a link on page 3 to hear her reflection on her high school experience. THE FUTURE AWAITS THE CLASS OF 2021! The best way to predict your future is to create it.~Abraham Lincoln Whether they attended in-person classes or completed their high school career in a digital format, the seniors in the Class of 2021 have been through a lot over the last 15 months. Milestone events and senior activities have looked much different than what previous classes have experienced. Yet, with resilience and future-focused optimism, our graduates have made the most of their senior year! More than 13,000 seniors are on track for graduation! Graduation ceremonies for the district’s 24 diploma-granting high schools start with Phoenix HS on May 24 and wrap up on May 31 with Lanier HS. College, careers, military service, and travel are among the next stops for our 2021 graduates. In the fall, most seniors—77%—are headed to universities, colleges, and postsecondary schools in Georgia and around the country. Most students (85%) will attend school in Georgia, with 86% enrolling in a four-year college or university and the balance attending a two-year college or techni- cal college. Among the students heading out of state, 51 will matriculate at one of the eight prestigious Ivy League schools. We have more than 1,300 students (10% of grads) attending one of the top 50 schools in the country or one of the top 25 public colleges or universities in the U.S. (based on U.S. News & World Report ranking). And our seniors will have financial help to complete their education. As of April 2021, our graduates have been offered more than $161.8 million in academic, athletic, and military scholarships, with nearly 15% of college-bound graduates offered at least one scholarship. Academic achievement earned offers of more than $97.5 million, including large, multi-year scholarships such as 1 Co- ca-Cola Scholar, 2 Horatio Alger Scholars, 2 Cooke Scholars, 7 Posse Scholars, and 1 Complete Your Journey scholarship recipient. What’s significant is the number and amount of scholarships that were not yet announced when senior information was compiled in April, including HOPE awards (typically, about a third of graduates), National Merit Scholars, and the full-ride scholarships awarded to GCPS’ 31 QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship recipients and 3 Gates Scholars. Student athletes earned more than $61.5 million in athletic scholarships. Gwinnett grads continue to answer the call to military service. The nation’s military service academies offered appointments to 7 young leaders, representing more than $2.7 million in scholarships. A total of 344 seniors will serve their country through military service after graduation, including cadets who honed their leadership skills in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units available at 14 GCPS high schools. Nearly 1,900 students will enter the workforce after high school, many armed with credentials and certificates earned through our career and technical education programs and sought after by local employers. Students graduating from the district’s Academy high schools—Berkmar, Central Gwinnett, Discovery, Lanier, Meadowcreek, Shiloh, and South Gwinnett—complete high school with valuable exposure to college majors of interest and experience in potential careers. Another 700+ seniors have other post-gradu- ation plans—from mission work to “gap year” travel. A record-breaking number of seniors are graduating with a grade percent average of 90 or better. Among our4,022 Honor Gradu- ates are each school’s highest ranking students—the valedictorian (1st in class) and the salutatorian (2nd in class). More than half of our seniors—6,757—experienced the challenge and rigor of college-level Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses during high school, with more than half (3,746) of those students earning a 3 or better (5-point scale) on optional AP exams to earn college credit or advanced placement in college classes. Another group getting a head start on college? The 1,757 Gwin- nett grads who participated in the state’s dual-enrollment program, earning both high school and college credit. Congratulations to our graduates and their families! We wish our seniors the very best in the future you create! In a year unlike any other, schools and seniors found a way to keep traditions alive. At left, Grayson HS moves Awards Night from the theatre to the stadium. At right, Parkview seniors accessorize their togas with masks. Page 1 1 Celebrating the spirit and voice of the Class of 2021 CreativeCreative expressions expressions of our graduating of our seniors Poem from Brookwood HS senior graduating seniors Ethan Schloss. Click here or on the image to see the performance. Art by Archer HS senior Aliyah Garcia. Collins Hill HS senior Kevin Tran plays all the instruments in this cover of “Wake Me Up” by Avicii. Click here or on the image to view his performance. Matthew Kwon and Hugo Mejia, Meadowcreek HS “Over the past year, we were blessed with the opportunity to serve on the Executive Board for the Georgia Association of Student Councils (GASC). The Georgia As- sociation of Student Councils prides itself on being an organization dedi- cated to serving, growing, and in- spiring the future generation of leaders. Being able to make an impact in just the smallest fraction of this big movement was a gift we never would have imagined. GASC taught us patience and taught us how to love unconditionally through our actions. From the nights we spent writing the gazette to the afternoons we spent taking minutes, it was truly the purest form of service. We will continue to grow and make an impact in our community thanks to the wonderful lessons “Strawberry Fields” by Central Gwinnett HS senior Leslee GASC instilled in us. It will always be a blessing and our Chavez heart wishes for the growth of this wonderful organization.” Page 2 Violin performance from GSMST senior Milan Nayak. Click here or on the image to view his performance. Senior Jazmyn Wright from Discovery “Red Bride” by Norcross HS senior Esmeralda “Overwhelmed” by Lanier HS senior HS speaks about her experience. Click Hernandez-Vasquez. Rhyleigh Mills. here or on the image to hear her reflection. Duluth HS participated in the Shuler Hensley Musical Awards this year via Zoom. Seniors Caylyn Kelly, Marlena Collins, and Isabelle Ponder were all recognized by The Shuler Awards for their performances and work on “Sister Act.” Duluth High School’s production of “Sister Act, Jr.” received the Shuler Showstopper Award in the 13th Annual Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards. Click here or on the image to see a clip from the performance. Painting from Dacula HS senior Grace Miller. The Mill Creek HS Dance Team. Click here or on the image to view the performance. Art from McClure Health Science HS senior Brayan Valdez Magana. “This scene of a butterfly and a bee was inspired by a childhood memory in which I visited a butterfly sanctuary. I chose to use subtle colors for all other subjects except the butterfly because the butterfly is the focal point of my story. The butterfly represents my childhood and how I’ve changed since then. It is a coming- of-age story. I represented myself in the orange and yellow butterfly with the themes of freedom and spirituality in mind. These two themes are themes that have been present for much of my years, leading up to today.” Page 3 3 Courtney Abdul-Azis, Shiloh HS “Completing my senior year through these unprecedented times is not what I always dreamed of.

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