Only one student a year can graduate saying they were valedictorian and in the class of 2017 that only student might be Gabriel Zolton.

  “A Gabriel Moment. When I would pass out report cards and he had a 100 average in every class, except mine,” said William Harlan, Zolton’s former World History teacher. “He had a 99.”

  Zolton has been number one since freshmen year and he hopes to remain number one so that scholarships come easier.

  “The better I do, then maybe I can get better scholarships,” Zolton said.

  Students all over have the goal of making it into their dream school. Zolton, on the other hand, doesn’t have a dream school, his goal is to have as little student loans as possible in the future.

  “It depends on how many scholarships I get, but if I can get a lot of scholarships and get accepted into the Ivy Leagues, then I’d want to go there,” Zolton says.

  Every class has that one student who gets a 100 on every test and there’s no chance for the kids who failed to have a curve on the test. In this year’s junior class, that student is Zolton.

  “He was the curve buster because his grades were so high,” Harlan said.

  Most would assume that to be valedictorian that you would need to study for hours. Zolton doesn’t, he only studies if he feels like he should.

  “You’ll be like that’s Gabriel Zolton, the number one in our class, and you look over at him in class and he’s sleeping,” says Bobby Credeur, a friend of Zolton.

  Not only is Zolton top in his class, he’s also involved in many clubs and organizations like National Honor Society, Key Club, Spanish NHS, Science NHS, Math NHS, and Orchestra. Outside of school Zolton is in a 4H group that focuses on robotics and textiles. Also outside of school Zolton is involved in boy scouts; he’s currently a Life Scout and working his way up to be an Eagle Scout.

  Zolton is very reserved and modest, but has a very funny and unique personality.

  “He’s like a tiger,” says Jim Dang, Zolton’s Calculus teacher. “He’s so quiet and so unassuming, but when he says something it’s so intellectual, so awe inspiring.”

  Zolton is going to go far in life and going to achieve great things and everyone around him knows it.

  “I told him ‘I don’t know what you’ll be doing, but whatever corporation that you run or whatever country that you’re in charge of, that you need to hire me,’” said Harlan. “I don’t know what he’s going to do, but he’s going to be good at it and probably make a ton of money.”