By Pranathi Chitta
Staff Writer
@prannydacheetah

Second semester of sophomore year tends be the big stress source for many Coppell High School students. With ranks coming out, students are pressured to push themselves to the limit.

However, with senior Ammar Adenwalla, it was motivation that got him to the top.

“I found out the end of my junior year,” said Adenwalla, the Class of 2015 valedictorian. “I was definitely nervous.”

Since his rank was not finalized, Adenwalla still had to work hard his first semester of senior year.

“When I first found out my rank, I didn’t know I was that high,” Adenwalla said. “Coming into freshman year, I knew I was above average, but I didn’t really think I was that smart; I was still in the process of finding myself.”

When he found out he was number six sophomore year, Adenwalla’s confidence boosted and he knew he had a chance to move to the top. To reach his goal, Adenwalla not only motivated himself, but found his favorite teacher as his motivator.

Adenwalla had Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology and AP European History teacher Jared Stansel in his second semester of World Geography in his freshman year

“Mr. Stansel really motivated me,” Adenwalla said. “He really helped me to go above and beyond in the class and I carried that mentality throughout high school.”

Stansel finds Adenwalla not only a rare student since he always takes care of his things, but also a very active learner.

“Ammar was one of the first students I’ve ever had,” Stansel said. “Not only was his maturity higher than that of other students, but he took initiative for his own learning. I never had to hold his hand.”

World Geography was the first class Stansel taught at CHS, which he found a challenge to teach.

“When I took over that class, the freshmen thought they could get away with things, and so trying to get their attention and maintain their focus of the class was an objective that I had to accomplish everyday,” Stansel said. “But I never had to worry about that with Ammar. Ammar has that natural desire to learn.”

Stansel had not only taught Adenwalla his first year of high school, but also taught him AP European History senior year, a class where Adenwalla began a tradition of his own.

“This year, Ammar started taking pictures of classmates sleeping in the hall and emailing them to me and I’ll put that on my desktop background and I’ll display it on my projector,” Stansel said. “I love that. He has a very clever sense of humor and it’s [kind of] cool how he incorporates that with the technology initiative that we have at Coppell.”

Adenwalla has not only proved to his teachers that he is a great student, but he has also proved it to his peers and friends.

“When I found out he was [number] one, I knew he deserved it,” senior Rohan Panaparambil said. “The thing with Ammar is that on the outside he’s such a normal person; when you talk to him, it’s a normal conversation. So in that way, he doesn’t seem like your typical valedictorian.”

Panaparambil and Adenwalla first met through their freshman biology class, and later they developed a friendship through their hobby of video games.

“He’s a really fun person to be around out of school,” Panaparambil said. “He’s really serious about grades and all that but not to the point where he wants to hurt other people; he still wants to collaborate and help everyone else to learn. He’s motivated to do well in school and fun to be around for other hobbies.”

During his junior year, a time when many students struggle, Adenwalla finds this year to be his strongest year, not only because of his classes, but also because of his determination.

“I think I had a really strong junior year cause I took a lot of AP classes because I was really motivated at that point; I wanted to move up,” Adenwalla said.

Not only did Adenwalla have to cut down on sleep to handle the course load, but also be really efficient while working and cutting down on distractions.

“[To underclassmen], I say ‘always work hard and don’t get too focused on the grades; if you work hard enough, the grades will come to you,’” Adenwalla said.

Adenwalla will attend University of Texas in Dallas where he will major in Biology with hopes to become a doctor.

“I’m convinced that whatever Ammar puts his mind to he’ll be able to accomplish,” Stansel said. “He’s a self motivated guy, which will help him so much in the future.”