Elizabet Cave is this year’s salutatorian, an honor many high school students may strive for, but few actually achieve. 

For Cave, what made her successful in high school was maintaining an outstanding GPA, while also making memorable moments with her teachers as well as her friends.

“I wouldn’t say it was necessarily my goal to be a salutatorian. Don’t get me wrong, I have always cared about my grades and GPA, sometimes more than others. However, I was usually more focused on the learning aspect of school, but I created some of the best friendships with teachers in high school than ever before,” said Cave.

Her advice to the underclassmen who may be looking to become valedictorian or salutatorian in the future is to work hard, keep focused, and stay on track.

 “If you are striving to be in the top of your class in the future, I would advise you to take rigorous classes, stay organized, and try to keep a positive mindset when it comes to learning. Most of the things I have learned in high school were actually interesting to me, and keeping this mindset made it much easier to do assignments and learn different content,” said Cave.

While maintaining a good GPA and having a curious mindset are key to success in high school and beyond, participating in the school events and becoming well known can also be beneficial. Cave went to many of the school events that go on throughout the year, and suggests underclassmen enjoy every moment of them with their friends.

“My favorite CSHS memory would probably be the Lip Dub in 2018.  Also, prom is so much fun. High school is only four years long, so take advantage of each second of it,” said Cave.

Like many others, Cave has changed and learned about herself a lot in the last four years, and the high school experience has taught her to work hard, but not to take everything too seriously. To her, it’s important to have a balance between a social life and focusing in school.

“I would probably tell my freshman-self to not stress so much. I definitely stressed over assignments and things that were so not worth the worry. High school is a time to learn about yourself, and one of the best ways to learn is to make mistakes,” said Cave.

Cave strives to make her hard work at high school pay off and help her to be successful at ASU Barrett and beyond.