How OHVA’s 2025 Valedictorian Graduated with a Diploma and a Degree 

If you ask Evie how she got here — valedictorian of Ohio Virtual Academy’s (OHVA) Class of 2025, graduating with not only her high school diploma but an associate’s degree, too — she’ll tell you about a fourth-grade decision that changed her life. That’s when she and her family left traditional public school behind.  

The pressure to perform academically had started young. Even among the parents, competition threaded its way into the conversations, an invisible expectation that being “smart” meant being seen as smart. Evie’s parents saw the early signs of how that pressure could warp the simple joy of learning. They didn’t want education to feel like a stage performance.  

So, they found another way. In 2016, with a nudge from a family friend who was also making the switch, Evie enrolled at Ohio Virtual Academy. Fourth grade marked the turning point that would end up defining her next decade. 

Learning Without the Noise 

The transition to OHVA wasn’t seamless. Moving from the noise of a brick-and-mortar classroom to the rhythm of virtual learning took adjustment. But Evie had sports, and she had her sister, who joined OHVA at the same time. Life outside the laptop never disappeared, it simply shifted, creating a balance that would become one of her greatest strengths. 

As the years passed, Evie’s relationship with learning changed, too. When OHVA introduced the option to take high school classes in seventh grade, she said yes. When college classes became available in eighth grade, she said yes again.  

One class at a time, she built a foundation not just for graduation, but for life beyond it. 

A Surprise at the Finish Line 

This spring, Evie will cross the stage at OHVA’s in-person graduation ceremony in Columbus. In addition to her high school diploma, she’ll also hold an associate’s degree from Southern State Community College, backed by roughly 90 credit hours.  

Her academic audit puts her close to junior standing before she even sets foot at Bowling Green University, where she plans to major in forensic science with a specialization in DNA analysis. 

None of it was planned around being valedictorian. In fact, Evie says it wasn’t even on her radar. She was simply chasing the kind of learning that made her feel challenged. The news that she had earned the top honor came as a genuine surprise.  

“There are so many smart kids in my class,” she said. “I never really thought it would be me.” 

Where Curiosity Can Lead 

Evie’s 4.66 GPA, bolstered by the heavy lift of college-level work, has led her to this point. It’s her discipline and long-term focus. It’s her quiet, steady pursuit of a future she’s been thinking about since she was ten years old, when a kids’ CSI program at the Cincinnati Museum Center first sparked her fascination with forensics.  

In a few months, Evie will move two hours north to Bowling Green, stay on campus and dig deeper into the work she’s always been drawn to.  

If there’s a lesson in Evie’s story, it’s about the kind of success that grows quietly — away from the race, away from the noise — and ends up somewhere extraordinary.