UPDATE: On May 15, Curt White was promoted to co-valedictorian alongside Mitchell Gibson, and Mirabel Luo was named new salutatorian.

Every year, the Carlsbad High School Administration pulls two students out of the senior class and awards them with the titles of Valedictorian and Salutatorian. These awards are given to the two students with the highest grade point averages in their class over all four years of high school.
Senior Mitchell Gibson and senior Curt White are the CHS 2022-2023 school year Valedictorian and Salutatorian, respectively. Both earned these titles through their four years of hard and consistent work.
“Valedictorian is an achievement in the context of school,” Gibson said. “It is a symbol of hard work and just a nice pat on the back.”
These awards were given to the students because of their dedication to academics throughout all four years of their high school careers. However, they couldn’t have done it without the support of their peers.
“Studying and putting in work definitely helped me achieve the award of Salutatorian,” White said. “Also, people around me who helped me with my projects and my work played a role. My parents helped me to get Salutatorian because they would always get on me if I had a B and make sure I was turning in my work on time with no zeros.”
That is to say, the titles of Valedictorian and Salutatorian do not come without challenges. Both Gibson and White faced obstacles in high school that they had to overcome.
“My biggest challenge was probably getting A’s in English because English is rough for me,” White said. “I am not a big fan of English.”
However, both White and Gibson overcame the obstacles they faced in their high school years and continued to receive good grades.
“I was kind of surprised when I found out because there are a lot of people at this school and I did not think I was going to be that high in the rankings,” White said.
Every year, a couple of students from every senior class are chosen to give a speech at graduation. Valedictorian and Salutatorian are usually two of the speakers, commemorating their last moments as high schoolers with their class.
“I am definitely open to giving a speech at graduation,” White said. “I will definitely apply for one. It is hard to think of something to write on, but once I get it going, I do not think it will be too bad.”
Being a Valedictorian or Salutatorian is not necessarily a symbol of someone being the “smartest” person in their class. However, earning the titles takes immense effort and a strong work ethic. The titles may not necessarily impact their future, but the work they put in will.
“I think earning [the title of] Salutatorian will help me in my future somewhat,” White said. “However, I think mostly what I did to get Salutatorian is going to help me more than actually the achievement of Salutatorian.”
The boys’ hard work throughout their high school career has finally paid off. The tools they learned in order to achieve this academic goal will also help them in years to come.
“It feels good to be Salutatorian,” White said. “You put in a lot of work and do all these classes throughout high school and you get awarded for that at the end, so it is really nice.”