Having an eye on the prize from the start of an educational journey helps keep the goal of being top of the class in sight and makes it more likely to happen. West Marion High School Valedictorian Ka'Niyah Dillon has had her eye on that spot since elementary school, and she never took it off that target, finishing up with a GPA of 4.691.
"I've been working really hard for this since I found out valedictorian existed in elementary school," Dillon said. "I always told myself once you put your mind to something, you'll get it done no matter what happens. It's surreal. I don't think reality has hit me yet."
Dillon will graduate with high honors in several classes and 21 credit hours in dual enrollment courses. She said her dual-enrollment college algebra class gave her the first "B" she ever received with 89.4. She calls that the hardest class she ever took.
Her favorite class was Spanish I, and her least favorite was Spanish II. She believes this might be because she is a senior, and that the teacher, Dana Newsom, is one of the greatest teachers she has ever had.
"She doesn't do off days," Dillon said of Newsom.
Dillon will attend Southern University Honors College in Baton Rouge, La., where she has a full scholarship, along with others. She plans to major in criminal justice and then attend Southern University Law Center to become a criminal defense attorney.
"The data shows 38% of people incarcerated are black," she said. "I feel like there are entirely too many people of my race getting convicted and going to jail, but there are way too few black lawyers representing them. I intend to change that because, in theory, with more black lawyers representing the population, the incarceration percentage of black people will decrease because they will be more understood and better represented."
Dillon loves doing community service, trying new recipes (especially for breakfast), spending time with friends and family and watching basketball. The Golden State Warriors are her team to watch.
Dillon is the daughter of Kaneshia Dillon Watts and Delandoe Watts. She attends New Life Fellowship Church in Columbia.
She is thankful for her entire family, the whole Thompson/Dillon family, who supported her throughout her entire life no matter what she was doing, but her mom was her biggest motivator.
"She made sure I stayed focused," Dillon said. "She could see me slacking off before I could, and she's say you have to stay focused."
Her advice to students coming up is that a person's mindset plays the biggest part in their life.
"Even if you can't control your situation, you can control your reaction to it," she said. "Any time things get hard, pray about it. No matter where you are in life, pray about it. God's already got it figured out."
