Meet the valedictorian: Rachel Dahl of St. Aloysius

Rachel Dahl was recently named the valedictorian at St. Aloysius High School.

Dahl lived in Michigan in her early years until she moved to Vicksburg at the age of nine, where grades weren’t one of her top priorities.

“I didn’t really worry about grades much in elementary, and I didn’t really start caring until around junior high,” Dahl said.

Dahl recalled that going to pep rallies was one of her fondest memories in elementary school.

Around her seventh-grade year, Dahl began focusing a lot more on her schoolwork.

“I always liked learning and making good grades, but when I could get on the computer and check my numbers, that was when I started to focus,” Dahl said.

Becoming valedictorian was not in Dahl’s plans early on in high school, but she soon found herself to be one of the top scholars in her class.

“I never planned to be valedictorian because I just focused on improving myself as much as I could, but then my guidance counselor told us that there was a four-way tie at the beginning of the year,” Dahl added.

As COVID-19 hit the world in Dahl’s freshman year, she found it hard to adjust to the new way of learning.

“It was very hard to learn over Zoom, and 100 minutes of chemistry was even harder,” Dahl joked.

A short time before graduation, Dahl received the news that she was the class of 2023 valedictorian as she finished with a 4.5 GPA.

“I was kind of surprised because I thought Ali Blackburn would be ahead of me.”

Dahl has decided to advance her academic career by attending Louisiana Tech University, where she will study cyber engineering.

“I want to thank all of my teachers because I can be a lot,” she said. “I also want to thank my parents and Mrs. Winkler, who called Hinds and convinced them to let me take a class.”

Rachel is the daughter of Dr. Travis Dahl and Dr. Jodi Ryder.