The race for the top of Center Grove High School’s Class of 2021 was too close to call.
Four students were separated by decimal points in their final grade point averages. Even as they finished their final day of school on May 28, no one knew who the top students were.
But after painstaking calculation, checking and rechecking their grades, it was determined that Christina Monev and Sapna Vyas are the co-valedictorians in this year’s class. Bryce Rayner earned salutatorian.
“To be at the top of the class is such an amazing honor. It’s significant of all that I’ve accomplished and all the hard work I’ve put in over the years,” Monev said. “It’s even more special to me that I could share this position with some of my close friends.”
For the two top students, the honor is one that resulted from years of hard work and a network of support.
“For me, it’s really a reflection of all of the hard work that I have put in, and all of my supporters have put in — my parents, my sister, they’ve all been really supportive of me,” Vyas said.
Sapna Vyas
Over the course of four years, Vyas experienced a wealth of moments — big and small — that shaped her into the student she is.
But few will have as much impact as the past 15 months of learning through a pandemic.
“It definitely threw me for the loop, especially with the number of (Advanced Placement) classes I had. It changed the way those tests were structured,” she said. “It was hard to get adequate class time to be prepared for the tests. My tennis season was canceled as well. A lot of things happened last year that shook me.”
But Vyas persevered. In addition to playing tennis for the Trojan tennis team, which reached semistate this year, she was a part of student government, Math National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society and National Honor Society.
In the classroom, Vyas had an affinity for mathematics and sciences. Those classes were where she met most of her friends, since many followed the same class schedule.
One of her favorite classes was anatomy, which tracks with her future plans. Vyas will be attending the University of Texas at Dallas on a full scholarship, due to her status as a National Merit Scholar finalist. Her plan is to major in health care studies, with the goal of attending medical school after college.
“My parents are both doctors, and their influences have been great in my life,” she said. “I’ve always found an interest in science, not only hard sciences but bioethics as well. For me to have the ability mesh those two topics that I really enjoy, the medical field is the best opportunity to me.”
Christina Monev
Monev was in her first year at Center Grove High School when she found a window into the business world.
She didn’t know much about the business world. But that all changed after joining Business Professionals of America during her freshman year at Center Grove. The experiences in that club have helped shape not only her high school career, but likely the rest of her life.
“That’s the one opportunity I’ve had to grow as much as I have in the past four years,” she said.
Monev’s passion for the business world will translate to her college career as well. She will be attending New York University to study finance, putting to use her skills in math with the real-world applications in industry.
“I have always been really interested in mathematics, and the computational analysis side of that. When I found out that was something I could apply to a career, I became instantly intrigued,” she said. “I’m very interested in the stock market and the entire economy as a whole, watching these crazy things happening in the world and seeing how it’s all interconnected.”
One of her favorite classes was Advanced Placement computer science, taught by Summer Ehresman. She also was riveted by Advanced Placement calculus, led by Katie Fruits, and AP Spanish taught by Kristi Fleck.
When not in the classroom, Monev was part of student government, National Honor Society as well as the math and Spanish honor societies, and the math academic Super Bowl team.
Bryce Rayner
Calculating why things work and figuring out how to make them better has always fascinated Rayner.
Throughout his time at Center Grove, he found classes such as calculus, physics and chemistry to be the ones that captured his imagination. Thinking about his future, he wanted to incorporate those concepts as much as possible.
As such, he’ll be attending Purdue University next year, studying engineering with the hope of being either an electrical or a nuclear engineer.
“I’ve really always enjoyed math and science. That’s really the natural extension of those subjects. I just enjoy the idea of doing that,” he said.
With a natural curiosity toward engineering, high-level science and math classes were some of Rayner’s favorites at Center Grove. But he also enjoyed social studies. Experiences such as playing football, lacrosse and wrestling as varying points in his high school career, as well as being in 4-H, helped make him a well-rounded student, he said.
To be one of Center Grove’s top students is a significant accomplishment.
“It makes me really happy. I feel like I’ve definitely put a lot of work in, so to see it actually come to something like this is a nice feeling,” he said. “What really drove me to the top was having my friends, who were there to push me. We felt like we always pushed each other. We surrounded ourselves with that environment.”
