CCH grads are seeing double

By Lethbridge Herald on May 7, 2025.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Madeline Russell and Sophia Henke have been selected as Valedictorians of the Catholic Central High School 2025 graduating class.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

Catholic Central High School students will be crossing the stage this weekend to receive their diplomas after listening to not one, but two valedictorians. 

This year’s graduation class of 300 students is represented by Madeline Russell and Sophia Henke. Its only the second time in CCH’s history that a pair of valedictorians were chosen. 

Principal Joanne Polec explains that after calculating the average grade amongst Grade 12 students, which includes Religion Education 35 and a combination of four academic courses, this Russell an Henke both came out on top with a 98 per cent across the board.

“In that case, it is difficult to say ‘oh, we are going to now change the parameters and move English in, because it is not part of the formula,” says Polec. 

Because graduation is so early in the year, before students have taken all their courses, Grade 12 students must complete Religion 35 at the end of Quarter 3 to be able to calculate the average, and from there it depends on which academic courses students decide to take in the first three quarters. 

“(It can depend on) whether they front-load their math and sciences, which are typically easier to get higher marks in than English and Social Studies,” says Polec. 

Some students purposely create timetables that allow them to gain a high academic score to have a shot at becoming valedictorians, she says, but this was not the case this year. 

“In this case, these two young ladies are so humble, I think they are representatives of what it means to work hard, be kind and are rewarded as such,” says Polec. “I think they are both outstanding in their academics and their contributions to Catholic Central.”

Even though having two valedictorians at graduation is something out of the norm, Russell says having someone stand up next to her while delivering a speech is actually a relief.

“I am happy to be able to share this with Sophia,” she says. “We’ve done a lot of the same things over high school, we were both part of the HYRS (Highschool Youth Research Summer) program, we are both Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteers.”

Russell and Henke will share in the graduation theme, which has two parts. 

“Our grad theme is ‘Slow down, you’re doing fine,’ so Sophia focuses on the first half of the quote, and I focus on the second half, so hopefully our speech connects together,” says Russell.  

Russell says she doesn’t focus on the academic part of being co-veldictorian but rather on the communities she has had the opportunity to be part of, which she’ll remember most her CCH experience. 

“I’ve been part of choir all three years, I’ve been part of book club, and I’ve done a lot of volunteering. And all of those things are what stands out to me when I remember high school.”

Henke agrees with Russell about how much CCH fosters a sense of community and says she knows this well because she’s part of student council, which organized a number of activities to help students connect with each other. 

“I’ve been on student council for three years and in my robotics team for three years as well,” she says. “I volunteer at Big Brothers Big Sisters, and was part of HYRS last year.”

Henke says for her, high school was a time of growth, a time to get ready for the real world, and she was happy to be able to be part  of multiple communities within her time there. 

While two valedictorians is something of a novelty, Polec points out that n 2019, instead of a valedictorian CCH had an addressee to speak from an academic angle, because that year they were unable to finish the quarter, as diploma exams were cancelled. And due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions at the time, the 2020 graduation was virtual. In 2021, things were once again in person but with restrictions to a limit of 50 people at a time and therefore the valedictorian address at graduation was different that year as well. 

In 2021 the school had a “drive-in graduation” where parents attended from their car and only the graduands stepped out to receive their diploma one at a time. 

“For every 50 students, we had a separate valedictorian sort of speak. We had four addresses that year,” says Polec. 

Graduation Mass is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at the vistitLethbridge.com Arena, Convocation ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at the vistitLethbridge.com Arena and the graduation celebrations will culminate with a Grad Grand March at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the vistitLethbridge.com Arena.