Top-ranked Killeen High School students discuss future plans

BY TODD MARTIN SPECIAL TO THE HERALD

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The two top-ranked Killeen High School Class of 2022 graduates chose to pursue the most rigorous courses available, while packing their schedule with athletics, fine arts and leadership opportunities.

Alison Howe is the valedictorian and Brianna Fruik is the salutatorian in this year’s KHS graduating class. “I received the email and I cried,” said Howe of finding out she finished first in her class. “The weight of it hit me. All the work was worth it in that moment. My parents cried, too.”

Acknowledging that she is a competitive person, the daughter of Robert and Catherine Howe moved to Fort Hood with her military family her freshman year and dove into top academic classes and varsity soccer. She began taking classes through Central Texas College through KISD’s STEM Academy as a sophomore but switched to the Texas Bioscience Institute connected to Temple College, where she completed the two-year dual credit program and earned an associate degree.

“That was probably the best choice I could have made,” she said of TBI.

“The professors there treated us like college students. It was a learning curve. You could never slack off. I’m so glad I learned there.”

In addition to tackling college-level, STEM courses, Howe played varsity soccer four years and up until her senior year managed to play with an Austin-based club soccer team.

Sometimes, the club team schedule required the family to travel out of state to games. “I took all my books and managed to study between games,” she said.

The intense schedule, made even more demanding with virtual schooling her junior year, forced her to organize.

“It was hard to do both. I had to find balance,” she said. “I’m so appreciate I was able to study when I needed to