Burlington honors top students of class of 2026

Six Valedictorians and one Salutatorian awarded

Burlington celebrated the 2026 graduating class on Monday and 6 students received the honor of Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Sharing Valedictorian Honors were Raygen Andrew, Orabella Heaton, Naomi McNiven, Paul McNiven and Adelle Olson, each had a 4.0 GPA and Hailee Winterholler was Salutatorian with a 3.98 GPA. 

Andrew, daughter of LeAnn and Destry Andrew, will be attending Dartmouth college in the fall and studying Chemistry or Political Science. One of her favorite school memories is going on the senior trip. “I decided since middle school, I might as well keep up my GPA since I was already at a 4.0. My favorite teachers would be Mr. Winland and Mrs. Tribby. Mr. Winland had a lot of passion and Mrs. Tribby has been teaching us since 7th grade. My biggest accomplishment would probably be getting into an Ivy,” said Andrew. 

Heaton is the daughter of Kale and Natoshia Heaton. She will be serving a mission after graduation. She credits all of the teachers that gave extra time to ensure she was learning and growing, like Ms. Reed, Mrs. Jewell, Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Provost. “I didn’t necessarily care about being valedictorian, but I just wanted to get all A’s in my classes and by focusing on that small goal, eventually I grew towards a bigger goal of valedictorian. My biggest accomplishment so far is being valedictorian and getting an ACT score of 31,” said Heaton. 

N. McNiven is the daughter of Harry and Jill McNiven. She is planning on serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Oklahoma and then will pursue an education in the medical field at BYU Idaho upon her return. “Mr. Winland has been a huge influence on our class and is an amazing teacher. Mrs. Tribby, our advisor, has helped our class throughout the years a lot. Coach Haslam has also made a big impact. They are my favorites. My biggest accomplishment so far is getting my mission call. I also got CNA certified and made amazing friends in high school. School in Burlington was amazing, and sports were some of the best memories,” said N. McNiven. 

P. McNiven is the son of Curtis and Marli McNiven. He will serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in El Salvador and then attend BYU. “Mr. George and Mr. Winland were my favorites because they were great teachers,” said P. McNiven. 

Olson is the daughter of Phillip and Marianne Olson. She will be serving a church mission in California and then attending college to study Psychology. “Mr. Aagard and Mrs. Tribby are some of the teachers that impacted her the most. “I always wanted to be valedictorian, and my biggest accomplishment so far is not using ChatGPT to get through school,” said Olson. 

Winterholler is the daughter of Craig and Melissa Winterholler. She will attend Northwest College to pursue a degree in Elementary Education. Mr. Winland was her favorite teacher, “I felt like I learned a lot in his classes and he is a great teacher. He pushed us and it definitely made us better students. My biggest accomplishment so far is probably graduating!” said Winterholler.