Senior Ellie Glenn was named the St. Pius X Class of 2019’s Valedictorian after an all-school Mass on Friday, February 1.

Glenn has the highest GPA of this year’s senior class, followed closely behind by the salutatorian, senior Ansley Boykin. Senior Rowan Wiley earned the STAR Student award for having the highest SAT score, and he selected English teacher Mr. Mike Scirocco as his Star Teacher, or the teacher who has influenced him the most in his academic career at St. Pius.

Glenn said she was shocked when Dean of Academics Mr. John Griffith called her name, earning a standing ovation from the senior class as she walked to the podium.

“I was so surprised when they called my name that it took me a couple of seconds to process what was going on. I was hit with a wave of different emotions, but I was mostly excited and happy to hear my class cheering me on,” Glenn said.

After graduation, Glenn will play soccer for Santa Clara University and continue to try to balance her busy soccer schedule with her school work.

“It was never easy to balance the two, but I trusted that in the end my work would pay off. When I was struggling and falling behind in classes, I leaned on friends and teachers to help me. I never hesitated to ask for help” Glenn said.

Hoping to become a doctor, Glenn plans on majoring in Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track at Santa Clara.

“I’ve always had a fascination with medicine and a desire to help people. I chose to study Biomedical Engineering because I will meet all the prerequisites for med school, but I will also have the opportunity to explore interesting aspects of Biomedical Engineering like artificial organs and prosthetics. I’m just excited to see where the future takes me!” Glenn explained.

The title of valedictorian has its perks, as Glenn has officially established her intellectual dominance over the rest of her class, but it also means that anything she says is immediately under scrutiny.

According to Glenn, “people who know me like to point out that I don’t have much common sense, or at least I make a lot of stupid comments, so now nothing that I say goes unscrutinized. My friends loved to tease me before, but now that I have been named the Valedictorian their jokes got a lot better.”

Overall, Glenn said that everyone has been extremely supportive of her.

“Every time someone congratulated me in class or in the halls that day,” she said, “it warmed my heart.”