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But those who spoke to the Star resoundingly said they did not expect to get this achievement — and they didn’t spend their last four years in high school just studying.

Every year, the É«É«À² Catholic District School Board — and É«É«À²’s public board — name the highest-achieving students from its graduating Grade 12 group. The board gave 15 students, at least one from each of its 12 wards, this honour among over 10,000 graduates at the TCDSB this year.

Meet some of this year’s top scholars.

Sophie Kukovica, 18

Graduated from Bishop Allen Academy with a 100 per cent average; headed to University of É«É«À² (French and theology)

Back in September, Sophie Kukovica set a goal: get a 100 per cent average.

Part of this motivation came from her parents, along with a school community that inspired her to set a high bar. Plus her older sister graduated high school with a 100 per cent average.

Nine months later, Kukovica did what she set out to do, the only student in the TCDSB this year to pull it off.

“I’m just really happy that all my hard work paid off,” she said.

Success for Kukovica came through finding ways to study that fit her learning style — she adopted the chunking method where you break down lots of information into smaller amounts — along with playing pickleball or the ukulele in her free time.

Kukovica hopes to become a teacher like the ones who inspired her.

“I want to be able to give back to the future generation.”

Ella Choi, 17

Graduated from Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts with a 99.5 per cent average; headed to U of T (Rotman Commerce)

Ella Choi was catching up sleep after her final exam season of high school when her parents woke her up.

They had all just gotten an email from the TCDSB saying she was the top scholar from Ward 5, which covers parts of North York and north É«É«À².

“At first I actually thought it was a scam,” Choi said with a laugh, explaining that she went to a school full of high achievers and tried not to think about how other kids were doing.

“I was just focused on what I wanted to do,” she said, “and I think that was why it was more of a shock.”

For Choi, maintaining a high average was less about studying and more about finding parts of her classes that she liked or found interesting — whether it was solving math problems or learning how the body works in biology.

She also said it helped having a creative outlet built in to her courses — she thinks there’s a misconception that art schools aren’t academically rigorous. One of her favourite memories was co-directing the annual Grade 12 performance.

Anthony Tu, 17

Graduated Chaminade College School with a 99.17 per cent average; headed to York University (computer science)

When Anthony Tu began Grade 9, he thought studying was everything.

By Grade 11, he was starting to feel burned out. He also realized he wasn’t retaining everything from exam cramming sessions.

So he started finding ways to break up the studying with anything to give his brain a bit of rest, whether it was video games with friends or long walks while listening to music.

“It’s definitely indescribable,” he said of graduating as the top scholar in Ward 10. “The goal was to get into university and I never thought that it would amount to this level of recognition.”

As Tu prepares to study computer science at York, he hopes to continue to explore robotics and find ways to help. His grandmother had a lot of back pain, and “seeing her struggle every day was just something that I didn’t like,” he said.

“So I want to bring robotics into people’s lives to find ways to simplify more tasks.”

Kiara Sophia Gonzalez Lopez, 17

Graduated from James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School with a 98.17 per cent average; headed to TMU (electrical engineering and French)

According to her mom, Kiara Sophia Gonzalez Lopez cried on her first day of kindergarten because she didn’t want to go.

Things improved. From that day onward, nothing could break Gonzalez Lopez’s love of school. In high school, she never missed a day.

Gonzalez Lopez crediting her achievement as one of this year’s top scholars with the connections she made with students and teachers.

Whether it’s her friend who would make sure she didn’t fall asleep during chemistry classes or her physics teacher who inspired her to study electrical engineering, Gonzalez Lopez said she wanted to “shout out” a lot of people who helped her get here.

“I dedicate it to those people that inspired me to continue studying.”

Outside of school, Gonzalez Lopez de-stressed by playing with her family’s Shih-Poo, Ozzy, or discovering new extracurriculars like crochet club.

“After a hard school week it was nice to go to the library and just crochet little things and connect with people.”