A Glimpse at Baylor’s Class of 2021
Baylor University has been blessed with record interest from prospective students in recent years, and the University’s leadership anticipates another outstanding fall 2017 entering class. As a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, Baylor continues to attract remarkably talented students. In fact, the fall 2017 entering class is projected to have outstanding academic credentials, with an average ACT score higher than last year’s entering class.
Here is a sneak peek at a few members of Baylor’s Class of 2021 who reached milestones and earned honors that resonated in their hometowns, across the state and across the country.
Rudder High School valedictorian Giavonna Yarbrough made history in her hometown of Bryan, Texas, earlier this month when she became the first African-American valedictorian in her school’s history. In her valedictory address at commencement, Giavonna told her fellow classmates that she was “elated to be able to do this for my community. . . . Success is of course possible with God, but if you add your own drive and your own push and you strive for it, you can reach it and make it.”
Jada Holliday is one of only 161 high school students nationwide to be recognized as a U.S. Presidential Scholar, one of only five such scholars from the state of Oklahoma—and a Baylor Bear. The Broken Arrow High School senior co-led a club for AP students and participated in Health Occupations Students of America, a student leadership development organization that promotes health care careers. Not surprisingly, she plans to enter the pre-med track at Baylor and major in biochemistry.
In his hometown of Marshall, Texas, Criston Cade is known as a good neighbor. He serves his community as a member of the District Strategic Planning and Marshall City Youth Commission, and he is recognized by his teachers for citizenship. The history lover is also active in speech/debate and orchestra at Marshall. It was his teachers who nominated him for State Farm’s “Good Neighbor Student of the Month” Award, which he won in March. He has also earned scholarships from organizations such as the Rotary Club and the Greater Marshall Chamber of Commerce.
Killeen (Texas) Ellison High School graduate Alexandra Davies comes to Baylor this fall after spending the last year as a study in determination. Disappointed at having fallen just short of making All-State Choir as a junior, Davies decided she’d do better as a senior. She spent her early mornings over the past year in the choir room, working with her directors and taking voice lessons; not surprisingly, she earned that All-State Choir nod. Davies described the selection as “surreal” and says singing has been her passion since third grade. She plans to study music education at Baylor with hopes of possibly becoming a choir director herself.
Rochester, Minn., native Sophia Fulton has done a little bit of everything, from starting her own summer camp to teaching piano lessons to creating an app that encourages safe driving. Fulton has been home-schooled by her mother—who came to Minnesota from Thailand as a refugee—and, in-between school, work, and her entrepreneurial efforts, manages to find time to write for sites like the HuffPost.
After home-schooling for most of his elementary years, Jake Kanyer started at Veritas School in Newberg, Oregon, as a fifth-grader. He’s leaving the school eight years later as co-valedictorian and a National Merit finalist to head 2,000 miles south to Baylor, where he’ll be part of the Honors Program while studying political science.
Princeton University noticed the efforts of Desiree Daniel to educate classmates at her high school in Deerfield Beach, Fla.—but it’s Baylor that she’ll be calling home this fall. In April, Desiree received the Princeton Prize in Race Relations for her work encouraging her classmates and professors to think more deeply about issues of race and to examine their own perceptions. She surveyed 300 of her classmates for her study, and her teachers credit her for helping her high school classmates become more engaged in thinking through important issues. She plans on pursuing a career as a doctor, but hopes to continue to encourage other students to be more understanding and treat each other with respect.