“I had the highest grade-point-average in the 10th grade,” said Myah Anderson, Hamilton High School’s 2020 valedictorian. “I knew I had to just maintain my grades to stay in the top spot.”
Soft-spoken and just a little shy, Anderson is described by Principal James Bacchus as “a model student.
“Myah has always been a well-rounded student, really focused and highly engaged in school. She worked as an office assistant and was always dependable and responsible. Myah could have gone to any school in the city and would have accomplished the same. She will do well, regardless of where she goes from here,” Bacchus said.
Myah is proud of her accomplishment. She will be the first to say, however, there were some very difficult times – discouraging events in her life that could have thrown her off course.
“I am a middle child. There are four girls. I have one sister older, and two sisters younger than I am. My mother is a caregiver for elderly and sick people. My father died when I was seven. He was shot,” Anderson said.
Pointing to alumni donations, establishing honors classes and other academic upgrades, Bacchus said, “Great things are going on at Hamilton High and Myah represents the best of what we are working for.”
Anderson is employed at the Memphis Zoo. This fall, she will attend Southwestern Community College and is the first in her family to go on to a higher learning institution.
She will pursue studies in business administration and aspires to be an entrepreneur.
“I am taking basic business courses because I’m not quite sure what business I want,” she said. “I just know I want to work for myself.”
