Editor’s note: Earlier this month, Bearden announced its Top Ten students for the Class of 2026, along with Valedictorian and Salutatorian. The “Top Ten” is an achievement awarded to the highest GPAs in the graduating class. This year, Leo Nishizawa achieved the coveted Salutatorian title, and for the first time in nine years, the award for Valedictorian is a tie. Mery Diaz and Yejoon Ham will share the honor. The following story on Diaz is the first in our three-part series about the honorees.
Mery Diaz is no stranger to academic struggle.
The senior, who was recently named co-Valedictorian, moved from Honduras to Knoxville in the summer of 2015, right after completing kindergarten. Entering first grade as a Spanish-speaking student, Mery was enrolled in Northshore Elementary’s ELL program, which – at that time – was only in its second year.
“The ELL program was very small,” Diaz said. “It consisted of myself, my brother, and this other guy.”
Diaz explained that due to the ELL program being within its primary stages, it was not the right fit for her and her family, and she started at A.L. Lotts in the fall of 2016. As a more established program at the time, Lotts had larger classroom sizes, more differentiated instruction, and teachers that spoke her language.
“Lotts has been blessed with a very strong ELL program,” said Mrs. Merrel Hughes, Diaz’s third grade teacher and a current fifth grade teacher at Lotts. “We always score really high, and our ELL teachers go above and beyond.”
This tradition has helped English learners reach their full academic potential within a new culture, Mrs. Hughes said.
Given the opportunities provided by the Lotts ELL program and support from friends and family, Diaz learned English and quickly began to flourish at school.
“Though Mery was quiet, she always put herself out there academically, often paving the way for the rest of her class,” Mrs. Hughes said.
Becoming comfortable with a new culture teaches more lessons than just fluency in a secondary language. A primary lesson she has taken advantage of is grit.
“She doesn’t just try to do things; she wants to do things well,” said senior Olivia McClure, a close friend of Diaz.
Not only has the lesson of determination stuck with Diaz, compassion and generosity have also resonated.
“Because she wants you to do well, and she shows how she’s doing it, and then you want to do it as well,” McClure said.
Along with encouraging her friends, Diaz has begun to pay her English education forward. For the past three years, Diaz has served as a student mentor to the Bearden ELL classroom.
“It is so fulfilling because I know that struggle,” Diaz said. “I had the same desperation.”
Teaching and translating English has become one of Diaz’s largest passions over the past several years, an enthusiasm she hopes to continue pursuing as she continues on with her education.
Diaz has been named a Robertson Scholar, which means she will attend Duke University next year with the ability to also take some classes online at UNC Chapel Hill.
She has also decided what she wants to study, and it’s a passion she discovered during a science class at Bearden.
“I want to focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine,” she said. “We had planaria (a type of regenerative worm), and we were tasked to cut it, right in the middle, and the next day, we had two worms.”
Academia is a large part of Diaz’s life; however, that is a comparatively small aspect of her many gifts and interests. McClure, who has been friends with Diaz since fourth grade, emphasizes the intricate attributes held by Diaz.
“She’s just very naturally intelligent, for sure, but that’s not everything about her,” McClure said. “She’s not just smart, but an amazing person as well.”
Not only does Diaz spend hours pouring into her studies, she spends an equal amount of time pouring into her friendships. From the micro level (inviting friends over to eat traditional Latin American foods) or the macro level (traveling to go see a Bruno Mars concert this May), Diaz succeeds and carefully balances her academic and social life.
As Diaz finishes out her senior year, she looks forward to pursuing summer plans, meeting new friends, and pursuing higher education. Achieving the title of Valedictorian after coming to a new country whilst sustaining friendships spanning almost a decade, Mery Diaz’s victory is no small feat.