Celebration News Across the Nation: High school recognizes 1st African-American valedictorian, salutatorian

Florida high school recognizes 1st African-American valedictorian, salutatorian

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's graduation day for Ribault High School seniors. Two young men at the Jacksonville, Florida, school are making history.

It is the school's first time that the top two students in the class are both African-American young men.
Advertisement

"In elementary school, my sister graduated 8th in her class, actually from here, Ribault High School. From there, I kind of aspired to be number 1," said valedictorian Jeffrey Francis. "I seen that there weren't many African-American men who were valedictorian. So I wondered how I could inspire other African-American young men if I was valedictorian."

Their grades have been finalized, assignments turned in and their speeches written.

"I wanted to get rid of a generational curse. You know, like a lot of my family, some of them didn't graduate," said salutatorian Darrell Worrell.

Surprisingly, the two are friends, not rivals, who climbed the ranks together. They're the two students with the highest grade point average out of their class of nearly 300, WJXX reported.

[link to abc7chicago.com (secure)]