You see them in all the graduation scenes in movies, offering up some invaluable insight while peers sit by, eager to finally earn their diplomas. Everyone recognizes the one speaker who stands above the rest: the valedictorian.

Piedmont has upheld the tradition of having a valedictorian from the objective basis of the highest GPA in the graduating class, for as long as most people can remember.

Principal Brent Daniels said he would like to bring up the question of whether or not Piedmont would like to continue this selection process.

“I had an observation that the system may not be reflective of all the different factors people would like to be considered in a valedictorian,” Daniels said. “There have been some suggestions for a more holistic approach.”

However, Daniels said that no one has brought any formal discussion of the system forward, and he is not interested in changing the tradition if the community is happy with it.

“As of right now, I am open to keeping it the way it is now, and I am open to a shift,” Daniels said.

Daniels said that he has tremendous respect for any individual that receives the title of being valedictorian or salutatorian.

“I aspire to them in many ways,” Daniels said.

Counselor Chris Hartford said that in his past 13 years of working in the district, he has sometimes heard questions being brought up by members of the community about the process of choosing a valedictorian.

“Some people have brought up the idea that community service and more feedback from teachers should be included in this process,” Hartford said.

Hartford said that he finds the tradition of having a valedictorian a bit odd, because, unlike other schools, Piedmont does not rank its students and the community has been trying to reduce stress in high school students for many years.

“Perhaps because it’s tradition and we have always done it, or perhaps because we’re a success-driven society do we feel the need to have the best student give a speech on graduation day,” Hartford said.

Hartford said he has similar feelings of discomfort around the gold tassel for all the students who were in honors society for five out of six semesters. While he has a great respect for those who achieved it, he also said he is unsure that students should be blatantly categorized this way.

According to the Washington Post, many schools are recognizing the detrimental effects that result from unhealthy competition in schools and through the college application process. In turn, many schools are increasing the number of students who are designated as valedictorians, or even getting rid of the valedictorian tradition all together.

At other schools throughout the Bay Area, valedictorians are chosen through various means. At the College Preparatory School, students apply to be speakers at graduation and then the senior class votes on two students to give speeches. At Bishop O’Dowd, the valedictorian is the student with the highest GPA but the salutatorian gets selected after applying and preparing a speech. At Berkeley High School, there isn’t a valedictorian at all.

Due to the fact that there are many ways to finding a valedictorian, Daniels would like to emphasize that he wants the community to decide what kind of student they would like to best represent Piedmont.

“The system may not be reflective of all the different factors,” said Daniels. “It’s a good exercise as an organization to ask ourselves if this process represents our values and look into that.”