Charles Kannel, Surya Murthy, Hannah Varner, and Chloe Zimmerman all had 4.0 GPAs for 4 years.
Gavin M. Nachbar, left, and Niroshan S. Amarasiriwardena, of Amherst, are ready for graduation ceremonies for the Amherst High School Class of 2010 Friday night at the Mullins Center.
AMHERST - For the first time in anyone’s memory, the 2010 Amherst Regional High School graduating class has four valedictorians and two salutatorians.
The four valedictorians - Charles M. Kannel, Surya Murthy, Hannah M. Varner, and Chloe O. Zimmerman - all had a perfect 4.0 grade point average for all four years. They are among the 282 who received diplomas Friday night at ceremonies at the Mullins Center at the University of Massachusetts.
Having four valedictorians meant sharing the writing and delivery of the graduation speech.
“We thought maybe we’d have one or two people say something,” said Varner earlier in the day Friday. But they all wanted so say something. So on Thursday the four got together to craft a speech and each planned to deliver a quarter of it.
The four didn’t learn of their shared ranking until Wednesday during awards night ceremonies.
Varner said they would talk about their journey, how in Amherst each “followed their own path to get to graduation.”
Varner said they also wanted to thank parents, teachers and staff who helped them on their way.
And with their encouragement, the graduates “will go into the future prepared,” she said.
She said she also planned to appreciate the moment of actual graduating.
Murthy said sharing the award with his friends was exciting. He said he got to know them working on projects throughout the years . “It’s really an honor to be up there with them,” she said.
The two salutatorians are Kristin E. Andres and ShiYuan Liu.