SANDPOINT — Two valedictorians is a rare occurrence in itself, but to have co-valedictorians named Katherine and Catherine is an unusual coincidence as well.

Such is the case, however, as Sandpoint High School seniors Katherine Kaul and Catherine Brenner will share the spotlight in June as the SHS class of 2018 co-valedictorians. In a somewhat more common occurrence for SHS, there will also be two salutatorians — Cienna Roget and Abby Johnson.

"They're high achieving, great academic students, but also great role models for the whole school," said SHS Principal Tom Albertson.

While all four teens knew they were at the top of their class as far as GPA, no one knew who would receive the honors after a new system was implemented at SHS last year for choosing the valedictorian.

"All of us were really unsure of what that was going to entail," Kaul said. "It was really exciting, though — I think it is an awesome opportunity."

Each of the four have a weighted GPA of at least 4.4, with Kaul at the top of the class with a 4.56. The school moved to a 32 credit-based system where the valedictorian and salutatorian are chosen from the same 32 credits for all candidates, Albertson said. The credits are a combination of English, math, science, world language and social studies credits, as well as five semester credits of their choosing. What that has allowed, he said, is students to take classes that may interest them that are maybe not an advanced placement or dual credit.

"We want a well-rounded student, so we didn't want them to try to avoid courses that may hurt their GPA just to be in the running for valedictorian and salutatorian," Albertson said.

The system changed during their junior year, Albertson said, so it was only fair to "recognize more students than less students." And with 49 students in the 2018 senior class with high honors of a weighted 4.0 or higher, it was difficult to only recognize a few, he said.

"This is a very high achieving senior class," Albertson said. "... All the students at the top are all deserving and are very, very close, even with the 32-credit system, therefore the decision was made we would go with the top two as valedictorians and the next two as salutatorians."

In addition to being named co-valedictorians, Brenner said she and Kaul have also been friends since freshman year, though they have known each other a lot longer.

"So it has been cool to have a friend who is taking hard classes," Brenner said. "I know I would not have done so well without having Kat and all my other friends to support each other through our classes."

Brenner said she has been accepted to Montana State University, but is waiting to hear back from Duke Kunshan University — a satellite extension of Duke University located in China. She plans to study environmental chemistry, which is already a combined major at DKU, she said. At MSU, she would pair a chemistry major with a water resources minor.

Kaul said she will be heading to college in the fall to study biology, as she plans to go into medical research. She isn't quite sure where she will attend, however she did narrow her options down to three schools from her original 10 choices. Her top three choices include University of Nevada, MSU, and Idaho State University.

Johnson said she is deciding between University of Washington and Boise State University. She plans to major in business and will eventually adding a specialization, such as finance or accounting, she said.

"I’ve talked to people and they say if you start with business, just general business, it is easy to transition to finance or accounting, so that’s why I am starting there," Johnson said.

Roget, who was recently named a National Merit Scholar, said her first choice of a school is the University of Southern California. The school automatically gives National Merit finalists half tuition, though she wanted to go to USC even before receiving the honor. While she won't hear from USC until April, she said, she has been accepted to UW. She applied for a major in communications, and said she will likely focus on marketing.

In addition to academics, Kaul stays busy with cross country, track, basketball, the National Honor Society, math club and 4-H. Brenner said she swam for four years, ski raced until her junior year, was also in math club, and served as committees coordinator for the National Honor Society. Roget serves as the president of the National Honor Society, in addition to senior class president, math club, and the Cedar Post. 

Johnson, who has been involved in student council throughout high school, serves as the region one and two president for the Idaho Association of Student Councils, making her one of three presidents of all the students councils throughout the state. She is also a member of the National Honor Society, has been in choir for four years and played soccer until to her junior year.

As for their graduation speeches, Roget admitted she is a bit nervous. She is also the only one who has known all year that she would be doing a speech, as the class president does traditionally each year.

"Now I have double the pressure, because I will be making a speech for two," she said.

Brenner said one thing she will emphasize in her speech is that as high school ends, a fresh start begins.

"The day after graduation, it doesn’t matter what we were here," Brenner said. "Just don’t let anything hold you back."

Kaul said she plans to talk about her teachers at SHS and how grateful she is to them for her education.

"We owe so much to them for their dedication," Kaul said. "... I think we are really fortunate at this school for our teachers that we have and the administrators. Everyone is extremely helpful and want us all to succeed."

Each of the teens, in turn, praised their teachers for helping them succeed in high school. Brenner said the AP teachers, in particular, are “really passionate” about teaching and their students. A few of the teachers they mentioned were Mamie Brubaker, Wendy Auld, Kristin Hawkins, Lisa Bocksch, Mary Bird, Nachele Search, Jim Barton and more.

"I could just go on and on,” Johnson said. "There are so many teachers that I really like and I don’t want to forget anyone … I think we are all in search of, and appreciate, high-quality education and teachers who know a lot and want to share that with us."

Albertson said he, too, would like to thank all the teachers for their hard work as they provide "wonderful" opportunities for the students at SHS.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.