When Grace Chen learned she was going to be Briar Woods High School’s first valedictorian, she did exactly what she did to earn the honor: she prepared. For her senior year, Chen signed up for a leadership class to get ready for the speech she will have to give at Briar Woods’ graduation June 20.
"I got to work on my public speaking," she said. "Other than that I have started working on the speech yet."
BECOMING PREPARED early is nothing new to the Ashburn teenager. From the time she was a child, Chen said she was very proactive.
"No one had to ask me to do my laundry or to clean my room," she said.
Raised in San Francisco, Chen moved with her mother, Elaine, to Loudoun before her freshman year in 2003. It was Chen’s own choice to move across the country with her mother, as her father, Lung Hua, and her sister, Donna, were still living in California.
"I wanted to come here for the schools," Chen said. "The school system is much better here than there."
Chen does not take all the credit for her success, however. While she admits she is self-driven, she said she is inspired by her family to do well.
"Knowledge is power," she said.
BEING NEW TO the Virginia school system, she did not enter high school with the goal of being valedictorian.
"I wasn’t expecting it," she said. "But I just worked hard and it worked."
This fall, Chen will move back to California to attend UCLA in the honors program.
Jim Noland, Chen’s English teacher for the last two years and her favorite teacher, said he has always been impressed with Chen’s work ethic.
"She is very bright, but she is also by far the hardest worker in my class," he said. "She is a paragon of excellence."
When it comes to her own life, Chen takes the same proactive approach she does with her studies, taking her future into her own hands. Last year, when she learned her cholesterol was higher than normal, she began working out more. Chen bikes and swims and watches what she eats.
"I started eating oatmeal every morning," she said.
IT WOULD BE easy after speaking with Chen to consider her shy or reserved when in fact she is far from it.
"I am not that shy girl," she said. "I don’t talk much in class, but with my friends, I am loud."
When she talks about her plans to become a doctor, Chen’s face opens up and her passion for the profession is clear.
"I want to help people because I think that should be everyone’s goal in life," she said.
Noland called Chen a "quiet dynamo," someone who only appears to be just a quiet, studious girl.
"She is a very gracious and lovely person," he said. "She is always in a good mood, always positive. I am really going to miss her and miss her spirit."
CHEN’S ACHIEVEMENTS and positive outlook on life have not come without sacrifices or obstacles.
In March 2006, her mother, Elaine, died from heart disease. Chen said the death was unexpected and chooses not to speak of the details of that time. Since then, Chen has lived with her aunt, uncle and cousin.
Noland said he would not have known about her mother’s death if he had not heard about it from Chen’s classmates. Even the administration at Briar Woods did not know the details.
"She faced something that was really difficult with such dignity," Noland said. "She would not want attention brought to it. To me that says a lot about what a strong person she is."
Chen said that while her mother’s death was difficult, it only made her work harder in school and to achieve her goals.
"Her death didn’t bring me down," she said. "It boosted me because I want to do all the things she wanted for me."