Center Grove High School’s top three graduates have a few things in common: a strong friendship, an interest in engineering, a scholarly dedication and a desire to help explore the final frontier.
The race for the top GPA in the senior class of 657 students ended in a tie. Cody Hewitt and Joseph Sowers both finished with a 4.818 GPA, and will cross the stage Sunday as co-valedictorians. Grant Embrey will be honored as salutatorian, finishing second by a razor-thin margin with a 4.814 GPA.
Academics
While Hewitt and Sowers have long known each other, playing soccer on the same youth teams for over a decade and competing on the Center Grove High School team, they formed a friendship with Embrey through shared classes.
All three of them took Advanced Placement classes in calculus, chemistry, physics and literature. Individually, their AP classes ranged from computer science to micro and macroeconomics and U.S. history. They also took dual credit engineering classes through Ivy Tech Community College together, with all three students now planning to pursue engineering degrees at Purdue University, the students said.
“A lot of classes I take I have high interest in. I enjoy learning in these classes and excel in the classes I take,” Hewitt said. “It keeps me motivated, the feeling of achievement getting As in class.”
Whenever Embrey needs motivation, he thinks about how taking certain classes will set him up for success moving forward, he said.
“These classes will prepare me for the future,” Embrey said. “I enjoy the process of learning and kind of just want to do as well as I can in these classes.”
Extracurricular activities
Hewitt and Sowers have both played club soccer in local leagues for over a decade, and both played the center mid position for the Center Grove High School varsity soccer team. Their shared interests and competitiveness formed a bond they’ve shared over half their lives.
“I really enjoy going out and playing with my friends on the field. I enjoy the competitiveness of the game and the passion everyone has for the game,” Sowers said. “I enjoy doing workouts with my friends and I enjoyed senior year, when we would go to seniors’ houses and eat food.”
Sowers said he’s most proud of his Most Valuable Player award on Center Grove High School’s developmental team freshman year and becoming captain of the junior varsity team that won a tournament in Bloomington his sophomore year. He also played a key role senior year as part of the varsity team that won a sectional crown, he said.
Hewitt said making the varsity team junior year, scoring a goal during his first varsity match and scoring on senior night were among his greatest accomplishments on the field.
“I first started playing recreationally when I was two or three,” Hewitt said. “I like competing the most, being able to play in high-intensity matches against good opponents and enjoying sports with my teammates. Senior year this year was the most fun I’ve had with the sport. I was with people I’ve played with most of my life.”
While Embrey wasn’t a part of the team, he helped film Center Grove High School sporting events as a camera operator and associate producer for CG Sports Network. He said his favorite activity outside of class, however, has been the robotics team, which he’s been a part of since he was a freshman.
“What I find most rewarding is starting from scratch and building all the way up to a finished product you can watch compete and be proud of,” Embrey said. “Some of my proudest accomplishments were being on the drive team the past two years and this year, being an operator, helping operate the robot I helped to build.”
Embrey has also been a part of robotics outreach, helping host youth robotics tournaments and taking part in a robotics camp for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, he said.
Future plans
Graduation won’t mark the end of the road together for the three seniors, as they have all decided to attend Purdue University. They all have at least some interest in aerospace engineering, meaning they will likely continue to take classes together.
Hewitt plans to study either aerospace or mechanical engineering.
“I’ve always liked space since I was a kid,” Hewitt said. “I initially wanted to be an astronaut, but I moved away from that to be want to be someone who designed them to send someone to space. I’d really enjoy working somewhere that has to do with space and it’s something that really fascinates me.”
Embrey said he plans to study aerospace engineering, and eventually wants to have a space-adjacent job as well.
“I’ve always been interested in engineering and robotics helped hone that in and transportation has really interested me,” Embrey said. “Aerospace engineering is the most advanced level of transportation you can work on. I’ve always worked on pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and I think that career is most representative of that.”
Sowers said he hasn’t decided what branch of engineering he wants to study in college, but as with Embrey and Hewitt, he’s fascinated by space.
“I’m leaning more toward aerospace. I would want to work with rockets or satellites in space,” Sowers said. “I really like reading science fiction books and I think seeing a lot of the ideas in there push me to be interested in space in general.”
Friendship
Through shared interests and friendly competition, Embrey, Hewitt and Sowers have formed a bond.
“It’s pretty nice because we try to best each other but we’re all friends and the competition never gets toxic,” Embrey said. “We want to see our friends succeed and there are very few other students I would be as proud of to be recognized with. They deserve everything they’ve accomplished.”
That friendship will help the three of them transition to college, where they’ll continue their camaraderie, Sowers said.
“It’s relieving I don’t have to go to college without two of my good friends,” he said. “I can interact with them on a daily basis and won’t have to be in a different state from them. I think it will help us maintain and continue to build on our levels of academic achievement in college. We can push each other to do better in general.”
