(Posted 9:30 a.m., July 13)
Colonel By graduate tops Class of ’05
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Sam Guo is a rare individual indeed. Not only is the 18-year-old the first male to register the top graduating average in the east end in the past four years, his final average of 98.6 per cent is the highest average in the entire Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Equally as important is the fact that Colonel By can once again boast having the top student in the east end after relinquishing the honour to Gloucester High School last year.

After laying claim to having the top student in the east end in 2002 and 2004, Gloucester very nearly made it three for four thanks to the efforts of Andra Adams and Philip Kwong who tied each other with an average of 98.3 per cent.

While they fell less than half a percentage point behind Guo for top student honours, they still managed to register the second highest mark in the entire board.

The honour of achieving the top mark among the three east end Catholic board high schools goes to Lester B. Pearson graduate Nathan Burns who attained a 96.3 per cent average.

Melissa Hunyh from St. Matthew High School had the
second highest mark among the Catholic board schools with an average of 95.14 per cent.

Guo was one of 49 students registered in Colonel By’s International Baccalaureate program this year. The IB program is an international recognized academic program which requires students to reach considerably beyond the
normal range of expectations, while being involved in a number of non-academic activities as well.

For instance, besides his normal work load, Guo was yearbook editor for the past two years; he was
captain of the school’s Reach for the Top team; he was heavily involved in the Colonel By food drive; he played clarinet in the school band and he was a tutor.

Not surprisingly his best courses were also his favourite courses.

“I always loved math and physics,” says Guo who admits to studying three to four hours a night. “I think the key (to getting good marks) is being disciplined and having good time management skills. You also need to be able to handle stress well.”

Guo credits Colonel By IB co-ordinator Michel Belanger for inspiring him to excel at school and helping him navigate through the two year program.

“He was very supportive. He really helped us in all our courses,” says Guo who parlayed his high academic standing into a $10,000 scholarship to be spread out over his first two years at Queen’s.

Like Guo, Gloucester High School’s co-top scholar Andra Adams has also decided to sway from her specialty when deciding on what to take in university.

Despite getting 99 per cent in algebra and geometry, Adams plans to study software engineering at the University of Waterloo in large part because of the impact her computer science teacher, Wayne Boyle had on her.

“Mr. Boyle was by far the most animated teacher I ever had. He could make the most boring overhead presentation seem like the most exciting thing in the world,” says Adams, who also credits chemistry teacher David Burton for her academic success.

Adams and Kwong have had a friendly rivalry going on ever since Grade 9. Over the years, Adams has always finished a percentage point or two ahead of Kwong who was certain this was going to be his year.

“I thought I had her on the ropes She told me that she did horrible on her English exam and that was the one she was banking on to tie me,” says Kwong who plans to study engineering at Queen’s in the fall.

As it turned out, Adams scored a 98 on the exam. The two friends didn’t find out they had tied for the top mark until graduation day.

For his hard work, Kwong was awarded a $15,000 scholarship at Queen’s to be spread out over two years, while Adams was awarded an Ontario Millennium scholarship worth $5,000 and the University of Waterloo entrance scholarship worth another $4,000.

The east end’s other top scholars are Michelle Becker with a 94.3 per cent average at St. Peter High School; Leslie Winn who registered a 94.5 per cent average at Cairine Wilson Secondary School and Christopher Bickley who managed to attain a 98 per cent average at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School.

Regretfully, Orleans Online was unable to get a list of the top scholars from the area’s French language high schools in time for this article.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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