DPS To Honor High-Achieving Students, 10 With Perfect GPA
DETROIT (WWJ) - Over 300 Detroit Public School students with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher will be honored Tuesday night at the 28th Annual Excellence Awards Banquet. Ten students with perfect 4.0 GPAs will also be honored.
Detroit Cass Tech High School student Krishna Paul is one of the few all "A" students in the district to maintain a flawless GPS during her high school career. Following graduation, she'll be heading to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with plans to become a pediatric surgeon. Paul credits her family for her success.
"Just knowing that they had high expectations of me and they taught me to have high expectations for myself was what kept me going. You know, studying for those calculus tests and those chemistry tests, and just knowing that if I was able to do well, then I would be able to set up a better future for myself," said Paul.
As part of being declared an all "A" student, Paul will receive the Excellence Awards Scholarship from the district. She said anyone can be successful at school, you just have to be determined.
"I think the biggest thing you have to do is know when to reach for help. I've never, even been afraid to sit a teacher down and be like 'Look, I don't get this. I need you to explain this to me,' or go to after school tutoring and seek help from after school tutors or reach out to other students who I know are doing better than me," said Paul.
Paul also advises DPS to stop cutting teachers and programs -- such as music and art -- that help students become more well-rounded.
The Excellence Awards Banquet is designed to showcase the top three percent of the district's graduating seniors.
Virtually all of these students will enter college or another post-secondary education institution after high school. Their college choices range from local universities including Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, to historical black colleges and universities including Morehouse and Spelman, to Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, West Coast Stanford, University of Southern California and more.
To date, 8,915 students have been honored since the program originated in 1985.
