Before school started this year, BHS administration and the school board decided to increase the required GPA to graduate with honors from a 3.5 to a 3.67. This was not highly publicized for the seniors.
Many students who expected to graduate with honors won’t be wearing gold cords at graduation because of this announcement. There will be a drastic decrease in students graduating with honors this year. This has resulted in frustration for the seniors who assumed they would earn the distinction.
“I was kind of angry at first, because beforehand it was at a 3.5 and then they changed this Spring to a 3.67,” said Senior Sydney Warheime. “I wasn’t aware of the change until a couple of weeks ago. The only people who knew about the change were the administration staff.”
This information, was in the student handbook which is given out at the beginning of the school year. However, many seniors assumed this change would apply to incoming students but not affect current seniors.
The change was made because the junior class at BHS has performed at a high level. Over a quarter of the junior class currently has a GPA above a 3.67. The change also makes BHS in line with neighboring districts.
“I asked our Assistant Principal Kris Thompson about the change,” said Senior Anna Demgen, “and she said that they wanted to be more in line with other schools in our district like St. Michael and Monticello. So that’s why they switched the NHS GPA because the junior class is inflated with loads of intelligence.”
Other seniors at BHS weren’t upset of the change but wished that school could have communicated it to them better.
“I’m not mad that they raised the requirements but I wish they could have done a better job of communicating it to the seniors,” said Senior Sydney Driver. “I do understand why they made the change though.”
Some of the students were motivated to try and increase their GPA so they could maybe graduate with honors.
“Before school started this year my GPA was at a 3.28 and after I heard about it, I worked hard in school and got it up to a 3.51,” said Warheime.
