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May 13, 2025
Above, from left: The Lincoln Academy Class of 2025 Valedictorian Jayden Brown and co-Salutatorians Dylan Burmeister and Anna Lupien
by Torren Nehrboss ’26
Special from the Lincoln Academy Talon
The Class of 2025 valedictorian and salutatorian of this year’s senior class have been announced, yielding one valedictorian and two co-salutatorians. Jayden Brown was selected as valedictorian, and Dylan Burmeister and Anna Lupien are co-salutatorians.
At the end of the second trimester, all seniors have their GPAs calculated with the students with the highest and second highest GPA receiving the title of valedictorian and salutatorian respectively. In some situations, multiple students tie in GPA, producing co-valedictorians or co-salutatorians, but there has never been a known three-way tie in Lincoln Academy history.
Valedictorian Jayden Brown said that “all through high school, my motivation behind getting good grades in every class I took was never the possibility of being valedictorian.”
“I would say the main driving forces behind it all were a genuine desire to learn things and the knowledge that I had what it took to learn what was put in front of me, as long as I put my mind to it. I also wanted to maintain good grades in preparation for the college admissions cycle.”
“While I was not necessarily completely invested in every class I took at Lincoln, I always tried to complete my work in a timely manner; I’ve found that doing your work on time is often the biggest indicator of how well you’ll do in a class, because you’re able to better understand the content of larger assessments if you actually complete the homework,” he said. “If something such as a homework assignment didn’t click for me, I asked a teacher for assistance and they were always happy to help.”
Anna Lupien said, “I feel incredibly glad to have the opportunity to speak at graduation, especially alongside Dylan and Jayden, who are amazing scholars. It feels extra special to have Dylan as my Co-Salutatorian because we’ve been friends since first grade. It’s taken a lot of perseverance and time management, but the most important thing to me was keeping a healthy balance of school and life. Grades aren’t everything to me, so I’m grateful for friends and opportunities that I’ve had outside of the classroom.”
Co-Salutatorian Dylan Burmeister reflected on her success as a student, saying that “all the teachers have been indescribably key to my success in high school.”
“The faculty here are always willing to give up time to help students improve and understand material. I honestly don’t think I would’ve survived some of my math classes without the patience of my teachers in those classes,” she said.
“To me, this achievement is less about numerical grades and more about the effort I’ve put into my education. I’m most proud that I didn’t give up when a class was particularly hard, or I got a bad grade on a test,” Burmeister continued. “The hardest thing for me has been balancing commitments to extracurricular activities, involvement in sports all year, getting enough sleep to stay sane, and taking a challenging course load. Because of these challenges, however, I’ve learned to manage my time effectively.”
As is tradition, the valedictorian and salutatorians will give speeches at Lincoln Academy’s 2025 graduation, which takes place on June 6 at 1 pm on the Stanley Waltz Track Field (weather permitting).
Congratulations to Jayden Brown, Dylan Burmeister, and Anna Lupien on these distinguished titles!
Torren Nehrboss ‘26 is a member of the Talon Editorial Board.
