Mililani High School's 17 valedictorians. See the key below for a rundown on "who's who."
Photo by Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin

It's crowded at the top at Mililani High School, where 17 graduates with grade-point averages of 4.0 or better qualify as co-valedictorians of the Class of 1996.

"They are shining stars. . . . Each is outstanding in their own way and they all are No. 1. That's the way I see it," said Mililani High Principal Robert Ginlack, dismissing criticism in the student newspaper that the crowd diminishes the award's prestige. "This whole class is really tops compared to others. They're taking the hardest classes and excelling."

1. Kapuakuliaepilimaeole Asakura-Muramoto
2. Tammy Lai
3. Jaime Muranaka
4. Peter How
5. Ryoko Sheri Hiroi
6. Kristy Hasegawa
7. Scott Hiroshige
8. Nathan Higushi
9. Erin Finehout
10. Courtney Nekota
11. Susan Segawa
12. Jennifer Kwok
13. Emi Chang
14. Yvonne Fletcher
15. Matt Kajiwara
16. Alicia Morimoto
17. Jennifer Kanechika

The co-winner phenomenon dates at least to 1985, when the statewide Department of Education's then-superintendent decided any graduate with a cumulative grade-point average of 4.0 or higher would be declared valedictorian. If several classmates met that standard, they would share the No. 1 rank, even if one had a 4.0 and another had, say, a 4.1.

Now, with a growing number of advanced-placement courses offered at public schools, grades among the most elite students are rising. Those classes - which are more difficult and can be worth college credit - are graded on a five-point scale, rather than a four-point one. A student can get a B in an AP class and still maintain a 4.0.

Most educators agree that the tough AP classes should be worth more. Otherwise, a teen-ager could coast through easy classes for four years to win the No. 1 ranking - and the advantage it provides when applying for college and scholarships.

Mililani High School Trojans school logo.

But the advanced-placement grade scale also makes 4.0s more common, leading students such as Matt M. Kajiwara - one of Mililani's stellar 17 and editor of the school newspaper - to suggest revising the 1985 DOE standard.

"We all worked very hard and got good grades and that's great. But we're not really tied," said Kajiwara, who maintained his grades while running the school newspaper, working nearly 30 hours a week and volunteering for an AIDS outreach group.

He says Mililani's "true valedictorian" is Tammy Lai, whose 4.2 grade-point average puts her at the very top of Mililani's senior class of 509 students. Lai, a National Merit scholarship winner headed to Rice University to study chemistry, insists she does not mind sharing the spotlight.

"A lot of us are in the same classes and have been for years, so we are really good friends," said Lai, 18, whose courses this semester include AP calculus, AP English, AP chemistry and band. Being valedictorian "is a really huge honor. I didn't think it would be me. Then again, I didn't think there would be 17 of us, either."

At graduation Sunday, the co-winners will sit in the front row of seniors, receive special medallions and have short biographies read. But only two will give speeches. "Otherwise we'd be here all night," Ginlack said.

Having missed the speech tryouts, co-winner Kapuakuliaepilimaeole Asakura-Muramoto sent her address to the Star-Bulletin so she could publicly praise the "multitude of inspirational teachers" who gave up lunch hours, weekends and even holidays to help her.

Shielded by an umbrella from the scorching sun, senior Jeramie Thornton waits for graduation practice to begin at the Mililani High football field. Photo by Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin

Having so many valedictorians is the best endorsement of the teachers she admires, she said. "It just shows what a great class we have, what great teachers."