Leah Valentine graduated with a 4.60 GPA.

She ran her leg of a 400-meter relay in 59:16 in the suburban league race this year, beating her best time.

Both these feats are impressive and demonstrate how Valentine excelled − both in academics and athletics − during her time at Revere High School.

“Leah is an intelligent student athlete who is a leader both in the classroom and on the track,” said Elizabeth Long, a counselor at Revere who nominated Valentine as a Beacon Journal Star Student.

Valentine was selected as one of this year’s three top Star Students from more than 100 graduating seniors. The annual program by The Akron Beacon Journal, The Canton Repository, The Record-Courier and The Daily Record recognizes the region’s outstanding high school graduates.

Valentine, 17, plans to attend Johns Hopkins University, where she will major in chemistry – the first step toward a career in medicine – and run on the track and field team.

Maggie Bowers, who had Valentine in her honors and AP Chemistry classes, said Valentine posed thoughtful questions, methodically solved problems and helped her peers. She said her “intelligence, motivation and relentless determination” helped her to excel in AP Chemistry and get a 5 on the exam, the highest possible score that only 15% of students nationwide achieve.

“Leah is a multifaceted individual with a remarkable array of talents and qualities,” Bowers said.

Valentine heads club to raise awareness about gun violence

Valentine’s many activities while in high school included being the fundraising chairperson for the National Honor Society, a student ambassador for freshman orientations and a member of the Science Club. She also was involved in the Ohio Math League, with her team placing first in Summit County and fourth in the state.

Valentine was president of the Students Against Violent Everywhere (SAVE) Promise Club, which works with the Sandy Hook Promise Group to raise awareness about gun violence.

“I think it’s important to have a strong sense of community so people feel safer, and this hopefully prevents things like that from happening in the first place,” Valentine said.

Valentine participated in the Cleveland Clinic Pathways program, which teaches students through online and in-person sessions about careers in medicine.

She also volunteered last summer at Summa Health System, where she delivered lab results and patient mail, and University Hospitals, where she helped patients to find their way to appointments.

At the end of her shifts at University Hospitals, she played her violin in the cafeteria.

“It was a nice experience,” said Valentine, who has played the violin since she was 4 and was in the Akron Youth Symphony.

Valentine begins running in middle school

Valentine said she knew from a young age that she wanted to run track, with many people noting how fast she was.

She joined the track team in seventh grade and the cross country team in eighth grade.

While Valentine enjoyed both sports, she excelled on a track team packed with many talented runners.

At the district track meet this year, she got a personal best in the 200-meter dash and came within 0.09 seconds of beating the school record. She wasn’t fast enough to qualify for regionals but was still pleased with her time of 25:89.

“I didn’t think I could get there,” she said.

All three sprinting relay teams that Valentine was on qualified for regionals. The 4-by-200-meter team advanced to the regional finals, while the other two did not.

The 4-by-800 relay team, which Valentine isn’t on, advanced to the state competition. This was the first time Revere qualified for states in this event in 20 years.

“This is the best year we’ve had for relays,” Valentine said.

Valentine hopes to combine love of sports and science into a career

Valentine said she decided on Johns Hopkins because she’ll be able to run track there while getting a great education.

“I like that it’s a research-oriented university,” she said. “I liked the people there. I felt I could fit in. It’s an academically rigorous place but wasn’t to the point where people were cooped up in the library the whole time. It had a nice balance.”

Valentine decided to major in chemistry because she’s not sure what career she wants to pursue. She has in mind possibly becoming a sports medicine physician.

“That would be nice because I would be able to combine my interest in medicine and science with my track and running,” she said.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 or on Twitter: @swarsmithabj. 

About Leah Valentine

School: Revere High School

College attending: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland

Major: Chemistry

Favorite social media: Instagram and Pinterest

Binge-worthy show: “Avatar: The Last Airbender”

Favorite subject: STEM

Biggest influencer: My older brother, Jonothon, has had a big influence on me since we grew up only two years apart, and he has taught me not to be serious all the time, especially when I was younger.

Where she sees herself in 10 years: I would like to be graduated from medical school and in residency, where I hopefully will be on track to become a sports medicine physician. I know I cannot predict where life will take me, so ultimately my main goal is to have a fulfilling career.

Favorite high school memory: One of my favorite high school memories is when I was dressed up as Darth Vader for one of our football games, and as I was walking into the stadium the other school’s band started playing Darth Vader’s theme song at the perfect time.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Revere grad, Star Student Leah Valentine succeeds in school and sports