GRAYSON CO., Va. – Grayson County High School has accomplished something no other school in Virginia can claim: five consecutive years of a 100% graduation rate, a feat the state’s General Assembly is now formally recognizing.
The Virginia General Assembly passed House Resolution 2105, commending the Southwest Virginia school for the milestone. Del. Mitchell Cornett, who represents the 46th District and is himself a Grayson County High School graduate, sponsored the resolution.
“It’s truly just unheard of,” Cornett said. “It goes through the entire General Assembly and we passed that, and it’s just truly an honor to be able to do that.”
A system built around every student
Superintendent Kelly Wilmore said the streak did not happen by accident. The district built a layered support system that tracks students starting in middle school and steers them toward the programs they need to graduate.
Any student who fails a class is automatically enrolled in summer school. If the failure happens mid-year, the student transfers to the district’s academy during the second semester to recover credits.
Wilmore said the school also leans on its vocational program for students who are not planning to attend college.
“We’re gonna get you through, we’re gonna get you a trade if you don’t wanna go to college,” Wilmore said.
When a parent reached out last year asking about a GED option, the answer was firm.
“We don’t offer GEDs here,” Wilmore said. “You don’t need a GED. We have our academy, we have our vocational school, we have ways to be able to get the student through.”
Getting students engaged — and keeping them
Wilmore said student engagement outside the classroom is one of the biggest factors driving the school’s success. The district tracks participation in clubs and sports at the end of each year.
“Usually we’re about 97, 98% of our kids are in some kind of activity,” Wilmore said. “Students who have an activity, have something they look forward to coming to school — whether it’s a club or sport — they are much more likely to graduate.”
The school’s graduation ceremony itself has become a community tradition, Wilmore said, with the stadium packed each year and younger students attending to watch — building an expectation that they, too, will one day walk across the stage.
Weather disruptions tested the streak
Maintaining a perfect graduation rate over five years has not been easy. In the past two years alone, Grayson County students missed more than 50 days of in-person instruction due to weather events, including a hurricane and an ice storm that each kept students out of school for two weeks.
“It’s not easy,” Wilmore said. “We really have to make sure that our teachers here are very good at understanding weather and how to deal with weather and how to use shortened times to be able to get us where we need to go.”
Cornett said the disruptions make the achievement even more significant.
“There’s so many circumstances that go on with families and within the community, and you just never know what’s going to happen,” Cornett said. “I think it’s really just a testament to the hard work that everybody’s put in from the students and the parents all the way up to the teachers and even the school board.”
The standard stays at 100
Wilmore said the goal for the upcoming school year is the same as it has been for the past five.
“The standard is the standard, and we’ve set that standard,” Wilmore said. “You can’t go above 100. You can’t beat 100. Our goal for this year coming up, once again, will be 100. Now, will we get it? I don’t know. We won’t know until probably the day that they all walk across stage.”