For the top-performing graduate at La Jolla Country Day School this year, success came after years of finding balance between challenges and fun.
La Jolla Country Day does not recognize valedictorians in the traditional sense but instead gives the Trustees’ Award to the grad who achieved the highest cumulative grade point average over the past four years.
This year’s recognition went to Ayla Desai, who closed last semester with a 4.75 GPA (grades from this past semester are still being factored in).
She credits the success and joy of her high school experience to being able to explore her interests while taking challenging classes.
La Jolla Country Day celebrates 120 graduates at commencement
Desai started at Country Day (a private school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) when she was in seventh grade, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. So when her high school years began, she set her sights on doing “a lot of different things … and having as much fun as I could while learning” and taking on a diverse course load.
“I never had the goal of having the highest GPA,” she said. “I just wanted to stay ionate about learning, and the GPA came along with it.”
For example, Desai said she hadn’t planned to take Advanced Placement U.S. History in her sophomore year, but her freshman history teacher said she had “a historical mind” and encouraged her.
“I would have never even thought about taking … that,” Desai said. “But I wanted to challenge myself, so I took it and it was amazing.”
At the same time, Desai was taking honors courses, which are similarly rigorous but are not contingent on ing the AP test to get the credit.
“To be honest, I never liked the AP framing of learning because it makes it seem you have a timer on learning and an end point with the AP test,” she said. “So I took a lot of honors classes, which are just as challenging but don’t culminate in one test.”
She took three AP classes and three honors classes in her junior year and two AP classes and four honors courses her senior year.
“It was small things like that that led to the Trustees’ Award,” Desai said.
To make her high school experience more enjoyable, Desai was able to explore her interests through class choices and extracurricular activities, she said.
“You need to have fun while doing things because you will always do better,” she said. “You’re encouraging yourself to do better and do more. You always want to challenge yourself. When you have a challenge, you learn more. You learn more from mistakes, so harder classes are more work, but in the end, you’ll reap more benefits.”
“I promised myself I would take a fun class each year, and I took the five classes I thought would be the most interesting,” Desai added. “I found when I was interested in something, the homework and studying came a lot easier and didn’t feel like a burden.”
She also found creative outlets through things such as sports and singing in the school choir.
“That was one of the highlights of my day every day,” she said. “I got to sing every day and be immersed in music and be able to perform with all these friends I had made. It was an amazing experience and I loved it.”
In addition to the Trustees’ Award, Desai shared the Faculty Prize with her friend Victoria Huang. That prize is awarded to two seniors who have best demonstrated Country Day’s ideals and spirit.
“I was not expecting the Faculty Prize at all,” Desai said with a laugh. “That prize is a sign that you really garnered the respect of your teachers and s. It was nice to win it, especially since I won it with a close friend. I felt I had made an impact and all the work I had done left a good impression on all these people. Because it wasn’t just a lone journey — the teachers … played a large role in both awards. … These teachers had an impact on me, so it was nice to have had an impact on them.”
Desai said she now plans to study engineering — with some aspect of robotics — at Cornell University starting this fall. ♦
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‘ion for learning’: Bishop’s School top grad shares secrets to her success
La Jolla High School valedictorians share secrets to their academic success
