When they announced this year’s valedictorians I was ecstatic for them. Both Ethan Yang and Kaitlyn Wu are well deserving of this award and I don’t think our school could have done any better with selecting them. I’ve always been curious about what it must take to achieve such an esteemed academic title and how their life compares to what a more average student does on a day to day basis. So I decided to attempt to step into Kaitlyn Wu’s life to try and get a glimpse of what these past four years looked like for her. 

But first, let’s go over some background information. Kaitlyn is captain of the song team at YLHS and was a member of our school’s orchestra and science olympiad team freshman through junior year. She took a total of thirteen AP classes and is attending UCLA to study chemical engineering and her brothers are both pursuing careers in the medical field.

She starts her day largely the same: by waking up at around 7am and completing her skincare routine before heading down to eat breakfast. After class, she’ll have song practice from 3-5:30 pm on Monday and Wednesdays and 2:30-3:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Afterwards she goes home and prioritizes taking a break to recharge. Most days this includes taking a shower, eating a piece of fruit, or scrolling on her phone for five-ten minutes on social media. Senior year was definitely more mellow for Kaitlyn than other years since she didn’t take as many intense classes. But flashing back to sophomore year Kaitlyn had stacked her plate pretty full. Once she was showered and had eaten, she was ready to complete homework with no distractions. First she’d tackle pre-calculus since this was the subject that came easiest and warmed her brain up the quickest. Next was AP Chemistry, which was a bit harder but still relatively straightforward if she was focused in class. Then lastly, her hardest subject, AP European history. As someone who also took Euro, I have no idea how she was able to get all those other subjects done along with Euro. Most nights, Euro reading was the only homework I did, so go you Kaitlyn. Usually if Kaitlyn was tired by this point or needed a pick me up, she would take a fast power nap, but most days she had slept well enough the night before to get through the day without more than one coffee or energy drinks. Then lights out by midnight and she’d rinse and repeat the next day. 

Going into this interview what I really wanted to know was how Kaitlyn balanced it all: the song team, maintaining a social life, not losing her sanity. And about halfway through the interview I got my answer: “I never really went into High School with the goal of becoming valedictorian, it just sort of came about by me pursuing my various interests. Really I just wanted to make my parents proud by doing well in school. They work hard for me so I work hard for them”. (Kaitlyn Wu 12)

Kaitlyn had an intrinsic motivation to work hard and make her family proud which is what helped propel her to where she is today. Alongside this, she focused in school and during class so that she would have time for her family. I think if there’s anything we can learn from her, it’s that by prioritizing your values, everything will fall into place. Kaitlyn values her family and this part of her is what helped guide her to earning the valedictorian title.