Top Graduates of ’23 Offer Varied Destinations, Interests

The Abilene ISDs three high schools announced their top graduates during ceremonies on all three campuses on May 9, including unveiling the valedictorians and salutatorians at each school.

The Top 25 students at Abilene High School and Cooper High School were announced, as were the Top 10% at ATEMS (six students). Levi Bryan is the valedictorian at ATEMS, while Lily Kovac and Griffin Sullivan are the valedictorians at Cooper and AHS, respectively.

Cooper’s seniors will collect their diplomas on Friday, May 26, in a ceremony beginning at 8 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium. The 62nd graduating class in school history will celebrate approximately 415 seniors. Gates for the Cooper ceremony will open at 6:30 p.m.

ATEMS and Abilene High will be spotlighted on Saturday, May 27, as each hosts commencement ceremonies. ATEMS will send its 11th graduating class (68 seniors) across the stage at 8:30 a.m. at Shotwell Stadium. Abilene High will celebrate its 135th graduating class by handing out approximately 435 diplomas that evening at 8 p.m. Gates for each ceremony will also open 90 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Of the honored students, 12 will attend Abilene Christian University, followed by eight going to Texas A&M University, seven to Texas Tech University, four to the University of Texas, and three to the University of Houston. Two students will attend the University of North Texas, Tarleton State University, and Cisco College.

Two students will be attending service academy prep schools as Sydney Smith from Cooper and Paul Nguyen from Abilene High – both ranked 11th in their graduating classes – will be attending the United States Air Force Preparatory Academy (Smith) and the United States Military Preparatory Academy at West Point (Nguyen).

The varied interests among the top graduates can be seen in their preferred majors as they listed everything from Aerospace engineering to music performance, violin performance to theatre, zoology to nursing, pre-med to pre-law, digital marketing to early education, and songwriting to sports broadcasting.

Two Abilene High students – Salutatorian Vicky Gao and No. 3 graduate Caelan Barbarick – will be in Nashville as Gao will be attending Belmont University (majoring in Songwriting), while Barbarick will be two miles down Belmont Blvd. majoring in Early Education at Lipscomb University.

Alan Mercer – ranked No. 7 in Abilene High’s graduating class – will attend the University of Alabama, majoring in Sports Broadcasting. Mercer has been doing broadcasts of AHS athletics events and has spoken to sports broadcasting veteran and Abilenian Grant Boone for advice on pursuing his dream. He said his goal is to one day be the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys or Texas Rangers.

“I’ve played sports my entire life, and I listen to all the sports radio I can,” Mercer said. “I’d love to be the voice of the Cowboys or Rangers or be on ESPN as a talk show host like Stephen A. Smith, only a little bit less controversial.”

At Cooper, Daniela Tawiah is ranked No. 20 in her graduating class, and she will be studying Biology on a Pre-Med track at the University of Houston. A native of Ghana who moved to the United States when she was five years old, Tawiah’s goal is to return to her home country and bring quality health care to her hometown of Kumasi, Ghana.

Her younger brother had respiratory problems as a child living in Ghana, and her hometown didn’t have proper medical care. That experience was a determining factor in Tawiah’s decision to study medicine.

“That experience certainly played a part,” she said. “Ever since that happened, I’ve wanted to be a doctor, but not only be a doctor, return home, and bring quality health care to an area that doesn’t have anything like that. I want to open a hospital in my hometown and help people access quality health care.”

Chetiace Mpoy is ranked fifth in the ATEMS graduating class and is a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, who came to America with her family when she was six years old with the help of the International Rescue Committee. She will be a first-generation college student and plans to attend Texas Tech University and major in electrical engineering.

“My parents are really proud of me and super excited about my future,” Mpoy said. “My motivation is to get my dream job in design and help people along the way.”

2023 AISD Graduation Ceremonies May 26 & 27