With graduation fast-approaching, Langley’s usual abundance of valedictorians may be disappointed to find that they will now be known as “Honor Grads”. Prompted by Fairfax County, the “valedictorian” title has been officially changed for students who meet such qualifications for high academic standards.

As defined by Dictionary.com a valedictorian is “a student, usually the one ranking highest academically in a school graduating class.” Ms. Sonya Williams, the director of Student Services, believes the change has occurred because, “a valedictorian was just one person with the highest ranking. But, at Langley we don’t rank our students anyway. We simply want to identify those students who have achieved a 4.0 GPA.” 

As expected, many Langley students, especially some of the Class of 2011 seniors, are dismayed that they will not be properly recognized for their achievements. Freshman Alex Petras commented that, “It doesn’t sound as good. I would rather be called a valedictorian if I met the requirements.”

On the other hand, many seniors recognize the positive impacts of the change as they would prefer not to sit through the announcements of so many valedictorian titles while they patiently wait. “I don’t really care about the title change because I’m not a valedictorian anyways,” said senior Logan Fraley.

Ms. Williams believes this change will not drastically affect students because the true significance is the fact that these select students are being honored for their hard work. She said, “This has changed nothing in the requirements or respect for this particular group of students, only the title has changed.”