FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Come 2019, Homestead High School will no longer have valedictorians or salutatorians.
The class of 2019 won’t have the traditional honor for students with the top two grade point averages, instead moving to the cum laude model that colleges use, according to the school’s handbook for parents and students. The Journal Gazette reports students with a GPA of more than 3.667 will earn “cum laude” status, while students earning higher than a 4.0 will receive “magna cum laude”, and GPAs above 4.333 will receive “summa cum laude” status.
Southwest Allen County Schools officials say moving to the new model will allow them to still honor highly-performing students without grade competitions becoming a distraction or “damaging” to the students.
Van Wert High School dropped the old method in 2002, and some schools in neighboring Kentucky and Illinois have done the same.