Sophomore, Lucy Cordes, is ranked in the top ten out of her entire class. Many of her classmates would kill to be in her current position; but she admits that she gives it very little thought. Although Cordes takes on a difficult load of classes, the good grades and motivation comes naturally to her.

“I have never tried specifically to improve my class rank, it is not a huge motivator for me. It is just a perk I guess you could say, that comes along with taking a difficult course load and always putting in my best academic effort,” Cordes said.

Cordes says that the study skills and work ethic she built up in elementary and middle school have greatly affected her time at Central. When she began her freshman year, she already knew how to study and manage her time unlike many of her classmates.

“I think my strongest subject is probably math. It has always made sense to me, so I do not usually have trouble picking up new concepts. It does not hurt that I actually like math unlike many, it is gratifying to finally figure out a difficult problem,” she said.

Cordes believes the importance of class rank depends on the perspective from which one looks at it. She says it is something nice to put on a résumé when applying for college, but doesn’t actually think that class rank is a good indicator of how academically talented, or smart, a student is.

“Obviously, you can’t be ranked first in your class and not be a top-notch student, but whether you are ranked first, eight, or fifty-second, you can still be a great student,” she said.

Cordes explained that her class rank was affected due to her electives. She participates in choir and because of that, had a lower class rank than her other friends who took a study hall but still had the same grades that she did.

“I was being penalized for being involved and taking more electives. So I do not really agree that class rank is important in the sense that it defines you as a student. I think that it is more important to be involved in school outside of having an extremely high GPA,” she said.

Cordes is not sure if her class rank will transform her into who she plans to be when she’s older. She doesn’t think her status will have the biggest impact on her future, but she does believe that her involvement and what she is currently learning will take her great places.

“Being at Central is building my knowledge, my confidence and my academic skill, which is what will really matter in the end,” She says.

Despite her stellar grades, Cordes has no idea which career field she want to go into because she enjoys doing so many things. Her current standing makes her motivated to do her best and keep her grades up in every subject, not just the ones that she has her heart set on majoring in in college.

“I enjoy learning, so I do not mind spending the majority of my evenings doing schoolwork, but I don’t have a lot of free time at all. It’s not that I study every hour of the day, it’s balancing school with the other activities that I am involved in that is a challenge,” she said.

Cordes recommends that if you want to improve in school you should talk to your teachers, do your homework, study for tests and make it your goal to improve, not just to get good grades. She thinks there is a great importance to grades, but not the accumulation of your GPA. In agreement with her previous points, Cordes finds many benefits in getting involved at Central and taking advantage of all the activities and clubs it has to offer.