The winner of GP Vanier’s Governor General’s Academic Medal for top graduating student in the school is Nico May. Nico finished his stellar high school experience with a grade point average of 99.4 per cent in a huge variety of different disciplines.
“Nico epitomizes what it means to be a learner,” said his calculus teacher, Teresa Deveraux. “He decides what he’s interested in, and then finds a way to learn it. Nico’s always looking for connections in the areas he studies. He shows passion and is driven to explore.”
Nico is a true polymath-a “Renaissance person” who excels across the academic disciplines at GP Vanier. He is not only the top graduating student at Vanier this year, but his transcript shows excellence in courses as disparate as Calculus 12 (100 per cent average), Physics 12 (99 per cent) and English 12 (98 per cent). Nico is everything we want our learners to be-positive, inquisitive, and genuinely interested in everything from engineering tasks to art. He completed Chemistry 11, one of the most difficult science classes in the school on his own through Distributed Learning, and completed it in five weeks. Additionally, Nico has an indelibly creative mind, showcased through amazing art work throughout high school, and the amazing computer programming/software development that he has completed at the school.
Though Nico’s name has graced awards programs for the past five years at Vanier, he is unflappably humble about his many achievements at the school.
“Nico is truly a multi-dimensional learner, as excited about learning a new line of code as he is about solving complex mathematical equations. He has never earned less than an A in any subject in any year since Grade 5. That is an incredible accomplishment,” says vice-principal Greg Kochanuk.
His sterling academic record and lists of school achievements got the attention of the University of
British Columbia, where he was awarded a $40,000 major entrance scholarship. He will study engineering. The fact of the matter is that no field of study is beyond the realm of this extraordinary young man. He is bound for amazing things.
Vanier will be presenting Nico with the coveted medal when he returns from his first semester of studies at UBC this winter.