From NBCChicago.com:
A Gary, Indiana native will make history next month as the first black valedictorian from the University of Notre Dame.
Katie Washington, 21, is a biology major and minor in Catholic social teaching with a 4.0 GPA.
“I am humbled,” said Washington to the Northwest Indiana Times. “I am in a mode of gratitude and thanksgiving right now.”
University officials said they couldn’t recall ever having a black valedictorian, and don’t keep record of their race.
The valedictorian has been accepted to five schools, including Harvard, but she plans to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University, according to nwitimes.com.
“Katie works so hard,” Washington’s mother Jean Tomlin said. “I told her when she went to Notre Dame, ‘You are representing your family, your church and the city of Gary. Make us proud.’”
She has definitely made her family proud and is following in their footsteps. Her father is a doctor, her mother and sister are nurses, one brother is completing his residency and another brother who works for British Petroleum.
