HOUSTON — They say records are meant to be broken and at Bellaire High School, boy do they believe it.
"That's crazy! This is unheard of right," said senior Collin Crockett. "I'm amazed I'm a part of it."
Last year there were nine valedictorians at Bellaire High. That was a Houston ISD record. This year there is a record-breaking 13 valedictorians.
"Since freshman year, it's always been a goal, always a dream," said senior Owen Zheng.
That dream is now a reality now Owen. He's one of 13 with perfect 5.0 GPAs.
But their journeys getting to this point have been far from perfect.
"There were a lot of challenges that I had to get through," said senior Sophia Hernandez.
"The pandemic was really hard because we went virtual completely," said senior Maggie Schwierking. "It was really hard to stay motivated in class when we were at home in our pajamas on the other side of the screen."
Somehow they adapted and thrived.
"It speaks to a resilience one can't teach," said HISD Superintendent Millard House II.
They did it together.
"Not many people can say a pandemic affected their high school experience and they still got a perfect GPA," said Hernandez.
Bellaire High's Class of 2022 are competitors that turned into friends and shattered records in the process.
"We're 13 valedictorians, everyone always helping each other," said Zheng. "We came out stronger."