The valedictorian of my high school was the only student to leave the state.
I guess having the highest GPA gave them more opportunities in other states.
Yes, they went on to become very successful from what I could tell. 
It's interesting that that title is not used frequently in places like Austrailia and New Zealand.
I did not know that. Is there a ranking system in schools over there though?
It seems that the highest-ranking student in those areas is called a "dux" meaning leader and may or may not give a speech.
Is giving a speech up to them or the school? Our valedictorians here can be sensored, and their speeches are carefully scrutinized.
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title of success used in the United States, Canada, Philippines, and Armenia (and elsewhere in limited number of schools) for the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony (called a valediction). The chosen valedictorian is traditionally the student with the highest ranking (highest Grade Point Average, or GPA) among their graduating class. The term is an Anglicised derivation of the Latin "vale dicere" ("to say farewell"), historically rooted in the
, even though I don't show it as much. Love becomes a commodity when it's spoken of too highly and too frequently. I used to sing my praises very frequently when our love was new, like the nightingale which sings in the summer and stops at summers end. It's not that the summer is less pleasant for the nightingale, it's simply that the songs of other birds fill the air, and when things become common, they become less dear. It's for this reason, I, like