What a joy it was to read your write-up on Sandy Creek High School’s 2010 valedictorian, Anika Cooper. Instead of rushing on to college and career, this young lady reports that she will first “travel to India this summer to spend a year working with an organization that rescues underaged girls from prostitution.”

And what does she hope to achieve in the decade ahead? Fame? Money? Nope. She says she plans to focus on helping others, “bringing justice to those who have none.”

Where did she learn these humanitarian values? Your account explains that Anika was “home-schooled for the majority of her education.” Home-schooled very well, it seems.

I have a talented (and partly home-schooled) daughter who will enter high school in a year. I told her that if I could read a report like this on her plans at the end of her secondary education, I know I could die happy.

Ron Chandonia

Peachtree City, Ga.