The Top 10 students in the Class of 2024 were announced on April 11. The results revealed Reese Shaw as the valedictorian and Sloane Meeks as salutatorian. The final eight included: Maya Ortiz (3), Alice Early (4), Brady Jones (5), Eva Abshire (6), Patteson Cash (7), Sienna Morales (8), Ian Maxwell (9) and Addison Colescott (10).
The 10 students were involved in multiple organizations in and out of school, ranging from jobs, sports and clubs. Get to know the Top 10:
Q: What is your GPA?
A: 5.662
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: UT-Austin. Hook em’ horns.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: I felt UT was the most fiscally, geographically and culturally best for me, while being at a high academic level.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Biochemistry.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future?
A: Pediatric Plastic Surgery.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: Freshman year I was 2nd, since then I have been 1st.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: OnRamps Physics, AP European History, AP Psychology, OnRamps/Dual Economics/Government, Student Council, OnRamps College Algebra, Varsity Soccer.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: I play soccer, I am class president, Student Council treasurer, Rho Kappa president, Mu Alpha Theta vice president, and I am also in NHS, HOSA, English NHS, science NHS and more.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: I am a Junior Rotarian in the Rotary Society of the Lake Houston Area, I also hang out with my friends and work at Yonutz.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: Any math class. Math has just always come easily to me.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: OnRamps Physics, it’s just a lot to know!
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?
A: My STUCO sponsors, Mrs. (Natalie) Johnson and Mrs. (Pam) Workman. They have been with me all four years and helped me be where I am now.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school?
A: Winning Student of Character, because it was a peer voted award, and really made me feel like I have made a difference in my class.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you?
A: The first Powder Puff game that I planned. I finally saw my class coming together, and I saw the future of our successes all the way to senior year.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: Don’t give up! It will all turn out alright.
Q: What is your GPA?
A: 5.656
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: I plan on attending UT Austin!
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: Finding a strong community for women in STEM was really important to me, and UTs dedication to that along with their strong engineering program were pretty big selling points. The in-state tuition is pretty nice too.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Biomedical Engineering.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future? What has inspired you to chase that?
A: I’m interested in medical device fabrication and plan to pursue a career around that. Having a heart defect, I practically grew up in hospitals and I think that really inspired me to go into biotechnology.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: My sophomore year I was 9th and 6th and my junior and senior years I was 3rd then 2nd.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: OnRamps Physics, AP European History, AP Economics/AP Government, AP French 4, OnRamps Statistics, Calculus 3.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: WISHES, UIL Academic Team, Conservation Club, French Club, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, English NHS, French NHS, MUN, HOSA.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: National Charity League (NCL), and I host WISHES kids camps.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school?
A: AP Calc BC. I thought the curriculum was interesting, but Ms Wells always found ways to make it fun and interactive.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: AP Chemistry. The labs and teaching style were a lot different from my previous STEM classes, but learning how to adjust has definitely helped me in my other classes since then.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?
A: Coach (Eric) Coovert and Mr. (Alan) Prather. I never really liked history but both Mr. Prather and Coach Coovert are so passionate and engaging that for the first time I’ve found myself excited to talk about Louis XVI at 9 a.m.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school?
A: Starting WISHES. It’s a tiny club but seeing not only the club members but also teachers get excited about our Tuesday meetings makes all the work and planning worth it.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you?
A: Group Projects. Whether it was diss tracks in AP Euro, Littlest Pet Shop soap operas in AP Lang, or the boat project in physics, those little projects were my favorite moments.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: Make time for friends and family, and don’t take things so seriously.
Q: What is your GPA, if you know it?
A: 5.638.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: I’m going to Yale University.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: Throughout the application process Yale became my dream school. Yale allows me to get a liberal arts education and undergraduate research opportunities. The resources, specifically the libraries, were an offer I couldn’t turn down. The Yale network from their recruiting tactics to their small student-faculty ratio made me confident that I am joining an incredible community of people.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: I plan to major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future? What has inspired you to chase that?
A: I want to conduct biodiversity research. I have wanted to work with animals since I was two years old. I started working at the Houston Zoo when I was thirteen, and it was there that I grew a passion for conservation. My work at the Houston Zoo has been the main inspiration for my future plans.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: I was 4th in the beginning and later moved to 3rd.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: My class schedule this year is late arrival, AP European History, AP Macroeconomics/AP Government, OnRamps Chemistry, Newspaper, AP Literature and Pre-Calculus.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: I am a member/of National Honor Society (vice president of leadership), Société Honoraire de Français, Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (co-president), Rho Kappa, Kappa Rho, Mu Alpha Theta, Science Honor Society and Quill and Scroll. I am the founder of Conservation Club. I am on the UIL academic team, and I am the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. Throughout high school I also participated in Key Club, French Symposium, Model UN and varsity softball.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: I volunteer at the Houston Zoo, and I umpire youth softball games.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: AP European History was my favorite class throughout high school. I really enjoy the subject matter, and the incredible teachers, Coach (Eric) Coovert and Mr. (Alan) Prather, made the class fairly easy by making the material engaging.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: The hardest class I took in high school was geometry. I don’t understand shapes and how triangles are always applicable. I survived the year by asking Mrs. (Theresa) Robison for help. I could not figure out trigonometry until this year when I took precalculus with Mrs. (Jessika) Wells which explains why physics was my second hardest class.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you?
A: So many teachers have greatly impacted me through these four years, but I would say Coach Coovert had one of the biggest impacts. In the classroom, he has encouraged me to speak up when I know the answer, he has grown my passion for history, and he has taught me to embrace my nerdery. I also learned a lot from him while covering his battle with cancer for the newspaper. He taught me the importance of asking for help and staying relentless.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school?
A: My biggest accomplishment in high school is being named the National High School Photojournalist of the Year two times in a row. I am the only person to have received the award twice, and I won the awards with my freshman and sophomore year portfolios which were my first two years ever taking photos. I love being able to tell the stories of my community through photos, and it is incredible that I was able to get recognition for those photos on a national level.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you and why?
A: One memory that stands out is photographing Emma Yeager breaking the single season girls soccer team scoring record. I had just finished pitching a varsity softball game, and I made it to the end of the girls soccer game. I knew Yeager was set to break the record, so I picked up a camera and photographed the end of the game. I was able to capture the record-breaking goal and her celebration. The celebration photo was part of my first National Photojournalist of the Year portfolio. In many ways, I believe that photo is what started my journalistic success.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: Everything will work out. We have a plan, God has a plan, and the hard work will pay off. It was never a long shot.
Q: What is your GPA, if you know it?
A: 5 and a bit.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: Going to college, provided they fix the FAFSA on time.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Not sure.
Q: Have you been in the top ten all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: Got slightly worse.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: Not easy.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: Not many.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: Not much.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: Music theory - it’s like if math were easy and sounded good.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: APUSH - it wasn’t particularly difficult in and of itself but I just couldn’t get on board with it because it was so boring.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?
A: Mr. Hess, but he’s not here anymore so he’s not going to read this. He basically taught me that if I continually undersell myself, then people will condescend to me. This wasn’t a lesson, this was just kind of what he did.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school and why?
A: Cleared 1000 lines in Tetris, that’s a lot of lines.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you and why?
A: The time I gave a presentation in 10th grade English class that was so funny that afterward someone told me I should do stand up and then I only got a 90 on the presentation. Comedy isn’t for everyone.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: You don’t have to finish all your work on time, but you should probably finish your summatives.
Q: What is your GPA, if you know it?
A: 5.4.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: Become a nurse anesthetist.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: I chose UT because I love the city of Austin and it’s close enough to home for me to come back on weekends.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Nursing.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future? What has inspired you to chase that?
A: I want to become a nurse because my mom is a nurse.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: No.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: I started at 18th and slowly made my way up.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: All advanced classes with five of them earning me college credit.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: I was on varsity football and basketball and a member of multiple honor societies.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: Go to the gym and golf.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: Biology my freshman year because it made me want to pursue a career in the medical field.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: Economics my senior year because the topics were very complex and I was very busy.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you?
A: Coach (Kory) Kasper has had the biggest impact on me because he has been like a best friend to me through all of high school.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school and why?
A: Finishing in the Top 10 because it was a goal that I set entering high school.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you?
A: Being a part of the beef cake and powder puff games.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: Don’t stress, it will all work out.
Q: What is your GPA, if you know it?
A: 5.39.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin to study biochemistry.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: I chose the University of Texas because of the research opportunities available to underclassmen, the amount of things to do in the city of Austin and the sports teams.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Biochemistry.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future?
A: I want to pursue a career in pediatric oncology. Family members that have been affected by cancer and my mom working at MD Anderson are some of the reasons that have inspired me to pursue this career.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: I was 9th my freshman year at Porter High School, and 5th at Kingwood Park until the final report card.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: Dual Credit English, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, AVID 4, AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, Office Aide, Track and Field.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: National Honor Society, 2024 Class Officer Delegate, Fellowship of Christian Athletes Vice President, Student Council Member, Science National Honor Society, Math National Honor Society, Rho Kappa, HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America), St. Martha Catholic Church Confirmation Youth Group Leader.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: If I am not studying, I am usually spending time with my family and friends these last few months before I leave for college.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: Throughout my high school journey, Dual Credit US History with Coach Coovert, OnRamps Physics with Mr. Taylor, and AP Biology with Ms. Lynam have stood out as my favorite courses. The enthusiasm and dedication demonstrated by my teachers in these classes not only sparked my interest in the subjects but also made learning a genuinely enjoyable and engaging experience.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: PHYSICS! Physics was difficult for me because the concepts and formulas were challenging to grasp, especially with my busy junior year schedule making it harder to find study time.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?
A: Coach Coovert has had the most significant impact on me because of his unwavering dedication to his students despite the personal struggles he was facing at the time. Things like showing up to my area track meet 4/11/2024 when he could have gone home to his family shows the love and care he has for his students and I hope to have this same passion in my future career.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school and why?
A: My biggest accomplishment throughout high school has been being able to balance all of my activities and still make time for the things that are most important to me, my family. At one point I was doing morning track practice, a full school day, after school track practice, and a four hour gymnastics practice all while being involved in school and prioritizing my education. Creating time for my family and making them proud has been the most rewarding part of my high school experience.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you?
A: My uncle passing away four days before the start of my senior year is something that has stuck with me because of how much he supported me with all that I do. The start of this year was challenging, but thinking about him and his encouragement got me through difficult times. While there will be one less person at my graduation, I hope that what I have been able to accomplish this year would have made him proud.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: I would tell my freshman self to not be so hard on myself, realize that everything can not be perfect 100% of the time, and to get more SLEEP.
Q: What is your GPA?
A: 5.384.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: I’m going to Baylor University to study nursing.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: I chose Baylor because they have a good reputation for teaching and creating compassionate and experienced medical professionals.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Nursing.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future?
A: I hope to be a nurse practitioner because this career is a good mix between a doctor and a nurse (patient support as well as patient diagnosis and treatment).
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: No.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: My rank started in the high 40s and I made my way to the Top 10 during my junior year.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: I decided to take late arrival, I took dual credit English, AP Gov and Econ, and On Ramps Chemistry. My last two periods of the day were silver stars class and officer class.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: Silver Stars, NHS.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: I’m very involved with Silver Stars which takes a lot of time outside of school. I also work as the Second Baptist Nursery on the weekends. During my free time I like to hangout with friends.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school?
A: My favorite class throughout high school was Silver Stars class because that is where all of my friends are and dance is good stress relief away from my other classes.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: The hardest class I’ve taken in high school was AP Calculus AB. I spent about two hours each night completing the daily homework, and the class was very fast paced.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?
A: Ms. (Cyndi) Vaughn has had the biggest impact on my life because she taught me a lot about hard work, accountability and leadership.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school and why?
A: Making the Top 10. I did not start out in the Top 10 and I spent many hours each day studying/ doing homework in order to get myself into the Top 10.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you and why?
A: Being called into the office to find out I was in the Top 10 stuck out to me because it was very rewarding.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: Prioritize what’s important to you and don’t let anyone tell you your goals are insignificant.
Q: What is your GPA, if you know it?
A: 5.38.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: Go to Texas State and major in nursing.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: They gave me the most money and have a nursing school.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Nursing.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future?
A: I hope to become a neonatal nurse because I enjoy being around babies.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: It changed almost every year. I started at 9th my freshman year and then it fluctuated throughout the years. At one point I was 10th, 6th, 7th, and 8th.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: I took mostly advanced classes including English 3 Dual Credit, Statistics On Ramps, Advanced Anatomy and Physiology and Dual Credit EMT.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: Soccer.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: Hangout with friends and family, work, ER and ambulance clinicals.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: Health Science 2 - Mrs. (Leanna) Rockwell made the class enjoyable by making different fun activities to learn different skills. She didn't make us just do notes all class, but instead found creative ways to teach.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: Precalculus On Ramps. The class felt very fast paced. We would learn something new every day for like 1 1/2 months and then have a big test over all of it. The material was also more difficult to grasp for me as opposed to the other math classes I had been taking.
Q: What staff member had the biggest impact on you?
A: Mrs. (Heather) Medina showed me how being positive and sweet to everyone can change a person's day. No matter how annoyed she is she still treats everyone with respect and speaks to them with a smile on her face.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school?
A: Staying in the Top 10 all four years had always been my goal, so being able to accomplish that and make my parents proud means a lot to me.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you and why?
A: Being able to play soccer with the same girls from elementary. It brought back so many friendships that got separated.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: Go out with your friends more and make memories.
Q: What is your GPA?
A: 5.377.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: Go to college (UT Austin), find a way to continue swimming and get out of the economics major they assigned me to.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: UT is a great school that is relatively close and has in-state tuition.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Eventually, materials science and engineering.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future?
A: Nuclear fuel engineer.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: I had 1st period swim as always then aeroscience, AP econ/gov, On Ramps Chem, On Ramps stats, AP calculus BC, then lastly Dual Credit English 4. Econ was much more of a meat grinder than I thought it would be, even though I just went through the motions of maintaining an A in that class. Calculus BC didn’t turn out to be very scary. (I learned the whole course in junior year).
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: Swim.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: Blue Tide and other studying.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: Aeroscience 2 because it’s a funny class.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: Although BC Calculus is arguably harder, I put significantly more effort into On Ramps Physics than I ever did in Calc BC. While I did put a lot of effort into learning Calculus in junior year, the experience of taking the class was much more relaxed than in Physics.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?
A: Mr. (Glenn) Taylor he taught me to place value on precision.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school and why?
A: Avoiding severe burnout and staying focused because some of my peers fell victim to that.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: The first step to achieving anything is believing the goal can be achieved.
Q: What is your GPA?
A: 5.367.
Q: What are your plans after high school?
A: I'm going to Texas A&M to major in education and will work as a UCA staffer over the summer.
Q: Why did you choose that school?
A: They have a great program for teaching, and I love all the fun traditions.
Q: What do you plan to major in?
A: Elementary Education.
Q: What career do you wish to pursue in the future?
A: I want to either be an elementary school teacher, or a high school history teacher while also coaching cheer. I've always known I wanted to be a teacher because I've always had a passion for it. Whether I was helping my friends learn a new concept or teaching my teammates a new dance, I always enjoyed showing them something they didn't know before and watching them understand. I feel like it's my purpose, and my parents have really encouraged me to follow that.
Q: Have you been in the Top 10 all four years of high school?
A: Yes.
Q: How did your rank look throughout high school and how did it change?
A: My rank started at 6th, then dipped to 7th, went back to 6th, then dipped to 8th and ended at 10th.
Q: What did your schedule look like this year?
A: I took Dual Credit English, AP European History, Forensic Science, AP Government, On Ramps Economics, ASL, Cheer and I was an office aide. I definitely decided to take an easier path for my senior year compared to my schedules in the past.
Q: What are your extracurricular activities?
A: Varsity Cheer Captain, Junior Rotarian, Class Officer (secretary), NHS, English NHS, Science NHS.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: I babysit and work after school at Kids in Action with the elementary school kids.
Q: What was your favorite class you took in high school and why?
A: My favorite class I took in high school was AP Psychology. I was truly interested in every topic we covered and Coach (Amy) Balke always had fun ways for us to learn the material. We made a scrapbook of our lives to learn the stages of development, and went around the school during a "zombie apocalypse" to find out which part of the brain was missing from different teachers.
Q: What was your hardest class in high school and why?
A: The hardest class I took in high school was on-ramps economics. Coach Gorney is a great teacher, but the concepts were unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I had to do a lot of work outside of class to fully understand the material and spent a lot of time in tutoring. After a lot of work, everything finally clicked, but it took me a long time to get there.
Q: What teacher had the biggest impact on you?
A: Anyone who knows me knows that Coach Coovert has had the biggest impact on me over my high school career. I was lucky enough to have him my freshman year when he originally taught on level World Geography, last year for DCUSH, and this year for AP European History. We've spent a lot of time together and I still can't get enough of his teaching style. Every lecture I was captivated and every assignment I wanted to do my best. If I can become half as good of a teacher as Coach Coovert I would count that as a success.
Q: What would you say was your biggest accomplishment in high school and why?
A: My biggest accomplishment in high school is easily placing 5th at our national cheer competition. Our team had a lot of rookies, so we were expecting our season to be more of a learning experience rather than a success story. Despite the obstacles we faced, we were able to pull it all together and place 5th. It was one of the most amazing and most emotional weekends of my life, I’ve never cried so many happy tears. Leading that team is what I'm most proud of, it was an incredible group of girls and I'm beyond lucky to have had the opportunity to cheer with them.
Q: What’s a moment in high school that stuck out to you?
A: A moment that sticks out to me from high school was the last day of school party my class had in Principles of Education my freshman year. It was our final day during the weird COVID year, and I'm pretty sure we were the only students who actually went to school. We played spike ball, ate donuts, and surprised Coach Ackerman with a video of pictures and videos from class over the year. It was such a wholesome time we spent together and looking back on it always makes me smile.
Q: If you could give freshman you one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: If I could give my freshman self one piece of advice it would be to not let the little things ruin the big picture. I always focused on my little mistakes and let that ruin my perception of so many big events. I still struggle with this now, but I think I would’ve saved my freshman self from a lot of tears and stress if I had heard that earlier.
bishop • Apr 25, 2024 at 10:59 pm
love ians answers