AIS Names Valedictorian, Salutatorian

, which was holding its graduation ceremony today at , 2715 Peachtree Rd NE, announced its picks for Class of 2012 Valedictorian and Salutatorian. They are:

Valedictorian: Jason Mitchell

 Son of Karen and Brad Mitchell of Buckhead

College:  University of Chicago

Salutatorian: Anneliese Hermann

Daughter of Sharon and Paul Hermann of Buckhead

College: St. Olaf College (Minnesota)

About Jason Mitchell:

AIS Valedictorian Jason Mitchell is a student who not only gets top grades in all of his classes but also embodies many of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile attributes.  He is considerate, responsible, open-minded, and principled. 

He also plays ice hockey competitively.  He started playing when he was four years old in his hometown of Toronto, Canada.  The first year he just learned how to skate, but by age seven, he was on a traveling team.  When Jason’s family moved to Atlanta four years ago, he was pretty skeptical that he would find a team competing at the same level Canadian teams do. He was happily surprised to find the Atlanta Fire, his current team, coached by a former NFL player.  His first year in ninth grade, the Atlanta Fire made it all the way to Nationals.

During his senior year, Jason practiced three times a week from 7 to 11 pm and traveled to about 40 games a year.  He credits his academic success at AIS to his ability to do his school work anywhere, hotel rooms, airport and for whatever amount of time was available. 

Although studies are his priority, Jason plans to continue to play. He said that finding one’s own role within and being valued by a team are what gives him his drive.