Justin Wolfe, Charger Staff
Each year, seniors anxiously await their rankings, and all are anxious to find out who is at the top of their class.
This year, at Cookeville High School, we have a unique situation at the upper echelon of the senior class. For the first time in the history of the school, the Valedictorian and Salutatorian are brother and sister. Yamini and Krishna Rao were born only one minute apart from each other. Yamini was the first out of the womb, onto the books, and into the top position of the class of 2002 with a 4.96 QPA and perfect 4.0 GPA. Krishna, as in birth, finished second to Yamini with a 4.81 QPA and a 3.85 GPA. Krishna commented on his finish saying, "Being second born is part of the reason I finished second, but I shall overcome one day."
You might assume that Yamini and Krishna would be very competitive in many aspects of their lives, however, both claim that they are not competitive at all. In fact, they feed off of each other's success and even study together at times. "Having my brother in the same class as me has been one of the greatest motivating factors in my succsss," Yamini commented.
Some students may remember the older sister of Yamini and Krishna, Rajni, who was the CHS Valedictorian three years ago. Both Yamini and Krishna said that Rajni's success also motivated them to work hard and achieve their goals. "It's not so much a measure of my intellect, it's more my setting a goal and putting forth the effort to accomplish that goal," Krishna said of his achievement.
Both Yamini and Krishna, who said that they studied at least an hour to an hour and a half a day, found time in their schedules to participate in various extracurricular activities. Both played soccer at CHS, were members of the Interact and Beta Clubs, and went to governor's school. Yamini has also participated in mock trial and the Speech Team while Krishna found time for Cross Country, Spanish Honors Society, and Mu Alpha Theta.
Yamini and Krishna have big plans for their lives after high school. Yamini plans on attending college at dartmouth, Rice or Miami University in Ohio, and studying medicine. Krishna plans on attending Miami University in Ohio or Washington University in St. Louis, but he has not yet decided what he is going to study.
With all of the brilliant minds at CHS this year, the achievement of these siblings is truly astounding. In spite of Yamini's incredible accomplishment, she remains modest: "Even if it doesn't make a difference ten years from now that I was Valedictorian of my class, right now this honor is simply evident of how hard I worked during high school."
It requires a certain type of person to be so dedicated to studies and academics that they achieve the top rankings in a class of over 400 students. Having a brother and sister combination at the top of any class is a unique situation which will, at the least, be something for this year's seniors to remember for many years.