These 'Cats are top of their class

“I’m not all about school,” Hannah Bowman said, weeks before she would graduate with a 4.875 GPA as a valedictorian. All Florida public schools have a valedictorian. Winter Park has more than a dozen.

More than 700 seniors signed up at Winter Park High School on their first day of the 2012-13 year. By the end 13 tied for the honor to stand on stage at graduation and tell their fellow students what life was like, and what it could be.

They had the credentials – all with GPAs soaring over the standard benchmark 4.0.

“I’m just determined,” Hannah said. “I want to get it done.”

A torn ACL while playing varsity soccer led her to her passion beyond school, and where she hopes to be about eight years from now — practicing with a Ph.D in physical therapy.

Nathan Einhorn “might just be a doctor” when he finally leaves college a decade or so from now. He’s not sure. He knows he loves Chicago. He’ll be in a big city somewhere. Maybe New York. How did he end up on stage telling hundreds of fellow students how to live their lives? “You just space your work out,” he said. “Be sure to study.”

Mary Hwang’s 5.4 GPA was good enough for the top slot in a class that featured dozens of students who earned all A’s for four straight years. She’ll head to MIT in the fall, and by the time she’s done engineering a degree, she hopes to be one.

Jillian Dukes knows exactly what her GPA is at 4.98. She’s going to Harvard in the fall. All signs in the future point up and away.

“It’s kind of a roller coaster,” she said of her past four years. The low points for her were still A’s. She loves art history but doesn’t know where it might take her. It could be anywhere there aren’t any numbers involved. “Anything but science or math,” she said. She can’t wait to dive in to that very big pond. She’ll also be playing in it. Water polo awaits.

Allison Mignardi will take the field as a Marching Knight at the University of Central Florida this fall. She’s already got her steps mapped out to four years from now when she walks out of UCF with an education degree and into a high school teaching biology and music on the side.

Grace Herod was visiting William and Mary when she took a side trip to the University of Virginia and fell in love. She saw herself kicking a soccer ball around on those green fields. In class she’s not quite sure where she’ll end up.

“Something in math or science,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll save the world.” She’ll start with three mission trips for First United Methodist of Orlando. She’s already taken nine. On the way she earned a GPA on steroids – 5.35 to be exact.

Kelsey Gwin is grossed out by surgery, but she wants to be an orthodontist. If she changes her mind, there’s always theater.

“It’s good to have a backup plan,” she said. Either way, she’s hoping to make her own hours after she graduates from the University of Florida. No words on whether she’d like to be a literal Gator orthodontist.

Aaron Kennon’s 5.35 was good enough to make Columbia and Brown University fight over him. He helped take care of rescued golden retrievers, played Ultimate Frisbee and worked on robots. Theoretically he might be a theoretical physicist when he’s all done with college.

Vaishali Mehta might have to team up with Grace Herod.

“I want to develop a cure for everything,” she said. She’ll start with pediatrics at Northwestern University, and throw in biology for good measure. She had no trouble putting her mind to it en route to a 5.1 GPA. Maybe she’ll keep playing flute and Indian dancing while she makes up her mind in Evanston, Ill. Her backup plan: travel the world.

Trevor Byrne stood on the Capitol steps in Tallahassee and decided he might come back one day. Or maybe he’ll make his way to the Middle East as a foreign advisor. Or the White House.

“I want to improve human rights,” he said. At Harvard he’ll bring his 5.1 GPA and major in government, with an emphasis in international relations. Maybe he’ll keep writing music too, while he’s in China this summer.

Ling Lin stays quiet until you mention robots. He dreams way beyond the walking, running, tethered quasi-terminators on treadmills on YouTube today. He envisions one that plays football or soccer. His backup plan? “Travel around the world in an invented machine” of his own creation.

Lee Stuart Smith Jr. calls himself Stuart and loves economics when he’s not on a lake or a golf course. He’s bound for Florida State University in the fall. This summer he’ll try to find a way to learn to sail.

Call Adrianne Spoto “Adri” for short, but watch your spelling. She’ll major in English or journalism at the University of South Florida.

“My whole life has been filled with books,” she said. If she ever won the lottery she’d give a lot to charity then teach herself to be a writer.

“That would be really lovely,” she said.