Meadowcreek student Sarah Khan is quiet and introspective. But when she speaks about her journey to graduation she does it with great conviction and clarity. Khan will be a few weeks shy of her 17th birthday when she walks across the Gwinnett Arena stage on Monday as one of the top ten in the class. Her parents hail from Pakistan—and she says they have motivated her to get all A’s and score near-perfect on her SAT and ACT.  They’ve also taught her first-hand the importance of giving back to people in need in her home country. Khan’s counselor described her as “an extraordinary… academically …

Norcross High School graduating seniors Andrea Howard and Kristen Knowles chat casually with their fellow classmates during a buffet dinner for the senior class, held under the high, spacious portico at the side entrance of Norcross High School.  Despite the stormy weather the night before graduation, these seniors seem oblivious to the rain – interested, instead, in the warm fellowship of their longtime friends. They know that after graduation, they won’t see most of them for a long time, perhaps ever again. “It’s bittersweet,” says Andrea when she describes finishing high school and moving …