Warren County High School will have 11 valedictorians in the class of 2012. Those days are numbered, says incoming director of schools Bobby Cox.
“We are, pretty much, going back to the way we used to do it in 2007,” Cox said. “The policy was changed for 2015, which is this year’s freshmen coming in. There will be one valedictorian and one salutatorian. We wanted to phase the change in.”
Under the previous system, called a weighted grade scale, WCHS added points for AP and honor courses making it possible to have higher than a 4.0. The student with the highest grade point average was named valedictorian.
By the 4.0 system that is currently used, all students making a 4.0 grade point average are named valedictorians.
“We did make some adjustments,” said Cox. “We tried to combine the two systems and meet what the state requires. I believe we have done that. It will challenge students, but be fair to everyone.”
In the Class of 2012, there are 11 valedictorians — Emily Crawford, Victoria Eschenbacher, Emily Gawel, Jason Hanley, Jesse Hanley, Garrison Holmes, Collin Hutchins, Jaycie Jenkins, Taylor Johnson, Lindsey Rowland and Justin Woodlee.
“I have had a lot of fun sitting in the library and hanging out with my friends,” said Jenkins, who will graduate high school with an associates degree from Motlow. “The library is probably my favorite place in the whole school.”
She plans to attend Middle Tennessee State University, followed by Vanderbilt University, to launch her into a forensic psychology career.
Hutchins says he has enjoyed playing baseball, but he will miss his friends the most when high school ends.
“I’ve played baseball throughout my time in high school,” he said. “I enjoy it. When I leave high school, I will miss seeing my friends every day.”
Hutchins will be attending Tennessee Technological University and studying electrical engineering.
Holmes says he will also be attending Tennessee Tech, but majoring in business. While he enjoyed football games and tailgate parties in high school, the same can’t be said for art class.
“I will not miss Mr. Young’s art class at all,” he said.  
Woodlee will be attending Lineman School in Georgia; Johnson, Freed-Hardman University; Jesse Hanley, University of Tennessee Knoxville; Jason Hanley, University of Memphis; and Emily Gawel, Vanderbilt University.
Tennessee Technology University will be seeing Emily Crawford, Rowland and Eschenbacher on campus next year.
In addition to the valedictorians, high school officials released the top 10 percent of the class of 2012.
Students in the top 10 percent are: Makailah Bleedner, Jessica Bouldin, Allison Connor, Rylan Curtis, Amiel Emerson-Hernandez, Simey Emerson-Hernandez, Kevin Flatt, Chelsi George, Taylor Grissom, Taylor Kell, Thomas Locke, Micah McColloch, Amanda Marten, Jenna Morrison, Kelly Mullican, August Palombo, Kajal Patel, Hannah Pennington, Jacob Reagan, Jeffrey Rogers, Mary Roller, Lolita Terrazas, Kimberly Wilkinson, Emily Womack and Ali Young.
Information about the new weighted grade scale has been posted on the school’s website.

Weighted grade scale for the class of 2015:
• A five point weighted grade scale will be used.
• AP and dual enrollment classes will receive five points on the weighted scale. Five points will also be given to CTE course of Auto Services II due to the fact it meets the state board requirement of having a National Industry Certification Exam.
• All other classes will receive four points on the weighted scale.
• All five point courses will require a final exam or project and must meet the standard of rigor required by the state board uniform grading policy.
• No five point courses will be offered during the freshman year.