For Kaitlyn Ho, distinguished graduate candidate and senior, the distinguished graduate award is a recognition that places value on more than just academics.

“I like it better than what a lot of schools use, which is the valedictorian and salutatorian model,” Ho said. “It’s really good to also take into account the different ways that people are involved, whether through sports, clubs, the arts, things like that. I think (distinguished graduate) is a really great way to recognize that.”

Melinda Stephan, College and Career Coordinator, said she agreed with her sentiment; Stephan said she saw the award as a great way to represent the versatility and talent of students at this school.

“I mean, it’s something that I think was created for all the right reasons,” Stephan said. “You’re recognizing students who are doing amazing things sort of across the board, as opposed to just having the highest GPA.”

The Value of Distinguished Graduate

However, as college admissions appear to grow increasingly competitive, students grapple with balancing both activities and academics. According to a poll conducted by PEW Research, in 2022, around 45% of adults aged 18 to 25 thought it was harder to get into college now than it was for the last generation.

Riya Koya, distinguished graduate candidate and senior, said the recognition often goes unnoticed by students as they focus on academic recognition.

“Distinguished graduate only comes after all the applications, so I don’t think (colleges consider it) valuable at all,” Koya said. “But I kind of do like that we don’t have class ranking, because I think that would make people super-competitive,”

Koya said the title of distinguished graduate was something she never considered for herself during her early high school journey; it wasn’t until after she selected her courses that she discovered the recognition.

“I didn’t really know about it until senior year,” Koya said. “Kind of (my) main thing was mostly just, like, fulfilling my own goals, I guess.”

Ho said she had a comparable experience, despite discovering the program earlier.

“I think I was made aware of (distinguished graduate in my) freshman year, but only very loosely and just because I’d heard some of my friend’s older siblings or older peers discussing it and comparing,” Ho said. “I’d heard them talking about it, but I didn’t really fully know what it was.”

Ho said, while undervalued, the distinguished graduate recognition balances important aspects of high school learning.

She said, “I think, obviously, your academics are a really important part of your high school career; but also, other clubs and extracurriculars are really formational.”

Difficulty of Distinguished Graduate

While Koya agreed the title of distinguished graduate is preferable over traditional ranking, she said it still has some flaws.

“It rewards the number of achievements instead of impact,” Koya said, “so I think if there was some way to quantify that impact and basically reward based on how much you’ve done in a certain area, I think that’d be good.”

Stephan said she agreed with Koya; according to Stephan, some students are partially disadvantaged by the point calculation system.

“Our students have access to a lot of opportunities, and a lot of those opportunities are acknowledged and recognized in [the] distinguished grad application,” Stephan said. “However, not everything a student decides to participate in garners points in that application, right? Things that you do outside of school, you don’t get points for.”

Ho said the award’s intrinsic flaws can be a source of exasperation for students trying to meet its threshold.

“As student government and also the student body, we’ve discussed [the topic] a lot. I think there definitely are flaws just within the point

ranking system, but, really, you’re never gonna get something perfect,” Ho said. “There’s always going to be people who are upset about (how) certain clubs should be ranked more, or, like, certain activities have caps on them.”

Koya said the workload required to achieve the title can be a considerable source of strain if not balanced by genuine enjoyment.

“I did tennis freshman year, so that was a lot. The distinguished graduate awards sports and doing multiple sports, but that’s just a lot of stress on someone,” Koya said, “so I think that, obviously, if you love the sport, that’s why you should be doing it. But doing sports and academics can always be stressful.”

Focusing on Passion

Stephan said students should be driven by their own desires rather than the promise of a title.

“I want students to make choices because those choices make sense for them; they make a choice because they’re passionate about doing it,” Stephan said. “I want that to be the driver and the decisions. I don’t want this ‘end goal’ of applying to distinguished grad or getting this particular designation or recognition as what’s driving them.”

Ho said pursuing distinguished graduate shouldn’t take precedence over fulfillment of personal goals and exploring passions.

“We have so many clubs here at Carmel, (which is) something that’s really unique. There’s so many different things you can explore,” Ho said. “So I would say just get involved in as much as you can. There’s so many sports and we have such amazing coaching faculty here that can help you with that; you’ll just meet so many amazing people.”

Ultimately, Ho said, above all else, she prioritized enjoying her own activities to their fullest over pursuing academic recognitions.

She said, “I think it’s really important to just find your balance; if the only thing I did was study, I think I would, like, drive myself crazy. Like, I really love the other activities and social things. I really don’t think I would change anything. I really enjoyed my time.”