Center Grove High School’s top two graduates worked their way to the top by excelling in academics, and by shining in extracurriculars and sports.
The class of 2022 endured challenges during their high school careers as the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges to the Center Grove Schools community. Despite the pandemic, the students gained skills in flexibility and perseverance that will benefit them in their future, CGHS principal Jeffry Henderson said in a statement on the graduating class.
The top students are among the 638 Center Grove students who graduated on Sunday afternoon with plans to head off college, start a career or join the military.
‘There’s been late nights’
Gavin Anderson, this year’s valedictorian, achieved a 4.86-grade point average (GPA). Maintaining his academic performance was one of his top priorities during his high school career. He’s known he had a chance for the top spot since his sophomore year of high school, and since then it’s been a matter of maintaining it, he said.
“There’s been late nights, but I also don’t think that I sacrificed like my social life or stuff like that. That’s a big cliché you hear about. It was a lot of work, but I’m definitely proud.”
Anderson played soccer for the Trojans for his first three years of high school. Also during his high school career, he played the violin, and is a member of the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, he said.
He also was the co-president of the Tri-M Music Honor Society and participated in Leadership Johnson County’s Youth Leadership Academy.
While he was named valedictorian, Anderson wouldn’t call the title as meaning he was the smartest kid in his class.
“I absolutely do not think I’m the smartest person at all,” he said. “There’s so many other kids in my class who I would say are way more intelligent than me.”
Being named valedictorian does not indicate someone’s intelligence, but rather it’s a title that results from a competition to have the highest GPA. It’s nothing more than that, Anderson said.
It was a matter of how he took weighted courses, his work ethic and his motivation and drive to maintain his grades and not deviate from that that led to Anderson being named valedictorian. He and salutatorian Raef Sauer were very close in terms of GPAs, with the difference being one of Anderson’s classes was weighed differently, he said.
“I think people put too much emphasis on it when it’s really just a grade point average competition,” Anderson said.
Now that he’s graduated, Anderson plans to attend Indiana University to study political science and music, and plans to later pursue a career in law, he said.
“That’s what my mom did, and she is an inspiration for me,” Anderson said.
‘It feels good to look back’
Raef Sauer, CGHS’ 2022 salutatorian, came in close behind Anderson, achieving a 4.85 GPA. Being named one of Center Grove’s top academic students was something Sauer has been chasing after since his sophomore year, and he was relieved to lock in his career as salutatorian.
“It feels good to look back at and just be proud of the work I’ve put in over the last few years,” Sauer said.
He ran in cross country and track for all four years of his high school career as a varsity athlete. Prior to graduating on Sunday, he helped set a new school record during the state track and field finals Saturday in Bloomington. Sauer, along with Christian Antal, Griffin Hennessy and Jarret Rockwell, set a new record time of 7 minutes, 42.91 seconds in the 4×800 relay.
Sauer was also on the Indiana High School Athletic Association Student Advisory Committee and took part in Leadership Johnson County’s Youth Leadership Academy. He also was in the National Honor Society, among other groups, he said.
Being named salutatorian is an honor for Sauer, who did have a moment where he was not doing as well with school. When he was at Center Grove Middle School Central in 7th grade, he wasn’t really putting forth effort and was just going through the motions. Because of this, his teachers had a meeting with him and they told him he had to get things in check before it was too late, he said.
“I came back that next semester in 7th grade, and never got anything lower than an A since then,” Sauer said.
Sauer is now heading to Indiana University in the fall to study biochemistry and Spanish. He chose biochemistry because it seemed like a good route to help prepare for dental or medical school, and chose Spanish because he wanted to become fluent in the language, he said.
“Doing it in college is probably the best opportunity to do so,” Sauer said.
