Freedom High’s 2016-17 Valedictorian Terry Tan is an “old soul,” because sometimes that’s what it takes. Despite being the youngest of two sisters, she has the mature vision and work ethic of someone successfully balancing the pressure of academics with the richness of life.
In addition to being Freedom’s Valedictorian, Terry also volunteers at other schools, works a part-time job, plays sports and yet, still finds time to relax.
“I don’t like to focus too much on one, specific thing in life,” Terry says. “My goal is to be a well-rounded person.”
The daughter of second generation Chinese immigrants, Terry has discovered balance in her life, in which academics has played a huge role.
She is a member of the National Honor Society (NHS), the Science National Honor Society (SNHS), Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), and Mu Alpha Theta, a math honor society.
Terry walked across the stage on May 23 at the Florida Expo Hall with a weighted GPA of 7.27 and unweighted 3.98.
She says that Valedictorian wasn’t even a goal until somewhere in her sophomore year, when she says she first paid attention to it.
“It was something exciting I could pursue,” Terry says. “I knew that if I set my mind to it, I could become Valedictorian.”
It hardly became an obsession, however. Terry went on about her life, and only found out she’d earned Valedictorian honors sometime in January, when some of her friends congratulated her in the hallway at school. She initially asked why they were congratulating her.
“I definitely could not believe it,” she says. “I was very happy. With all that hard work, it felt really good.”
Terry spent the spring term in the closest thing to a college setting outside of an actual college setting. She took three dual enrollment classes that gave her college-like responsibility. She’ll enter the University of Florida in Gainesville next fall with 31 college credit hours already under her belt.
“Dual enrollment is completely on your own, it’s all based on if you can motivate yourself,” Terry says. “Even with AP classes, you still have your teacher there.”
That setup suited Terry just fine. She says she enjoyed the flexibility and freedom and was able to balance her nine college credit hours, her job (and own personal workouts six days a week) at LA Fitness, track season and volunteering at Chiles Elementary in Tampa Palms and at St. Mark The Evangelical Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd.
She ran cross country for the Patriots for three years, as well as the 800 and 1,600 meters and the 4×800 relay on the school’s spring track team.
“You will go insane if you focus on only one aspect, if all your focus is on academics,” Terry says. “What about the other aspects of life that you could be missing out on?”
She strives for perfection in everything that she does. The one “B” she got in high school, a sophomore year pre-calculus class, still gnaws at her.
“I’m also the type of person that when something’s almost perfect but not quite perfect, it becomes a pet peeve,” Terry says.
It turns out that the “B” in pre-calc was the only one she would receive in her high entire high school career. In fact, it was the only one from elementary school on up. However, Terry’s old soul quality she uses for balance keeps her from obsessing over it.
“I feel like the children, my generation of my family, are all more mature and have old souls,” Terry says. “Whereas my mom and dad are really young at heart — they make jokes, they poke fun at me in a sweet way — they’re just goofy and like to have fun.”
They also keep Terry grounded.
“I hope that my, ‘kid at heart’ attitude will continue to remind her ‘old soul’ to slow down and celebrate her hard work,” Terry’s mother Sylvia said.
Terry’s older sister Tammy also attended UF, and is similarly motivated with her own big-picture mentality. Tammy thinks Terry has just scraped the surface of what lies ahead.
“I don’t think Terry realizes her accomplishments are a reflection of how much potential she has in doing even greater things in the future,” Tammy says. “I am thrilled for this new chapter that is coming for her because I want her to finally see her potential come to life.”
Tammy has been a constant source of motivation for Terry, who says her older sister has inspired her and made her mature faster.
Tammy will graduate from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on the same day Terry graduates from Freedom.
Terry isn’t sure whether or not she’ll follow her sister’s path into a medical profession, as she says she is considering a couple of different fields. She took a microeconomics class her first semester of her senior year and a macroeconomics class at Hillsborough Community College this past semester.
“After those classes, I thought about maybe looking into finance,” Terry says.
On the other hand, she adds, she really enjoyed working with children at the local church and elementary school. Terry says she likes how the field of orthodontics opens up the opportunity to work with children.
“If I do pursue orthodontics, it will be in pediatrics,” she says. “I really love working with kids.”
Whatever field Terry does decide to pursue, you can bet she’ll pursue it with vigor and passion, while always finding time to stop and smell the roses. She says she is grateful to her entire family, including her grandfather — whom she says was a major source of inspiration — for providing the support necessary to accomplish some of the things she has already accomplished to date.
She says they have taught her to, “be yourself, that’s all that really matters.”
What doesn’t matter? That darn “B” from sophomore pre-calculus.
“Ummm, that, B?,” she says. “That’s in the past.”
