Seniors maintain highest GPA throughout four-year career

OGDEN — St. Joseph Catholic High School seniors Ben Cilwick and Stephen Paur have maintained the highest grade point average (gpa) throughout their high school career.

Cilwick has maintained a 4.0 gpa for the seven semesters since ninth grade, and Paur has maintained a 3.98 gpa in seven semesters. Cilwick has been in Catholic School since he started attending St. Joseph Elementary School in the third grade. Paur started attending Catholic School in the seventh grade.

Paur had been attending Uintah Elementary School in Ogden, when his parents gave him the option to attend St. Joseph Middle School. He thought that would be a good choice, and he is glad he did.

To maintain a high gpa, "You study a lot," said Cilwick. "For me, I just do all the work and study, and the grades just fall into place, it seems. Toward the end of the semester I will think about and see what my gpa is, but throughout the semester, I just do all the work and study for each test. Your grades will show how hard you work."

"You just have to do what is asked of you, and study for the tests," said Paur. "On average I do about three hours of homework. I have different types of homework, I read, study, and do projects."

"We read textbooks, and for Advanced Placement English/Literature we read different types of books. We each have three advance placement courses (AP).

"I have AP Engligh/Literature, calculus BC, and AP Spanish," said Cilwick.

"I took AP Art, AP English Language, AP calculus AB, and AP chemistry," said Paur.

Both students said AP classes are a little harder and require more homework, and require studying on the side. To get into the AP classes, you have to have an average gpa, keep your grades up, and show you are willing to work hard.

"You cannot slack off in an AP class, and usually they are smaller classes so there is more one-on-one with the teacher," said Cilwick. "The largest classes we have are the general classes that everybody has to take, and there are 25 students in those classes. In my AP Spanish class there are only four students.

"In my AP chemistry class there are only six students," said Paur.

"The math classes are all much bigger because they are required.

"I like going to a smaller school because you get to know you teachers better," said Cilwick. "You just seem to have a friendly relationship with them and know them better."

"It is easier for the teachers to help you outside of class going to a smaller school," said Paur. "Teachers are more willing to work around certain things you need and help you after school."

"We are both on the soccer team" said Cilwick. "We made it to the quarter finals of the 1A State playoffs. It was fun being on the soccer team.

Cilwick was a co-captain with Mark Howerton. "Cilwick as a junior won the 2A Most Valuable Player for the Deseret News and he won the Standard Examiner All Area Northern Utah Most Valuable Player. He is an amazing player," said Saint Joseph Soccer Coach Derrick Tate. "He plays center midfielder and is the main person who runs our offense. He runs the whole team when he is on the field. He looks for goals, looks to distribute the ball, and dictates our style of play.

"Cilwick reads the game so well," said Tate. "He is just brilliant.

"Both Stephen, Mark, and I played all four years on the soccer team," said Cilwick. "We are all friends on the soccer team. It is fun, and we all just kind of hang out."

"Paur was a utility player," said Tate. "He is really a nice kid. He just plays where we need him to play.

"Our seniors in general on my soccer team have a very high gpa," said Tate. "They all had incredible grades. "Another great player was Nathan Yonkee, who was a National Merit Scholar. He is one of the top mathematics students in the country."

Paur is also an artist who works with watercolor, pencil drawings, and acrylics.

"I like drawing," said Paur. "As a kid I always liked drawing, and decided to pursue it further at St. Joseph.

Cilwick would like to major in Spanish.

"I am going to go to the University of Portland on a scholarship," said Cilwick.

"I am going to go into engineering," said Paur. "I am going to Gonzaga University on a scholarship.

Portland and Gonzaga are both Catholic colleges, and both seniors wanted to pursue their college careers at a Catholic college.

"At Portland, I know you have to take theology classes," said Cilwick. "Some of them are world theology and they also include philosophy. So it goes beyond what we have learned so far and goes beyond just the Catholic religion. I will be able to take what I have learned about Catholicism and compare it to other religions and other versions of Christianity. So I think that will be an interesting blend."

"I had a choice between Gonzaga and Portland, and I chose Portland because it is in a bigger city than Spokane," said Cilwick. "I also like the campus better. After my visit, I really thought the campus was pretty."

"I was actually looking at Portland as well as Gonzaga," said Paur. "I chose Gonzaga because it is on the smaller side even though it is a little bigger than Portland. I like the smaller atmosphere of Gonzaga compared to other colleges and universities. Both schools have good reputations, but the scholarship I was offered through Gonzaga was a little bit better, so that was the deciding factor.

"We had to decide by May 1, so we had to make our choice," said Cilwick.

Cilwick said his favorite subject is Spanish. He started taking Spanish in the sixth grade at St. Joseph Elementary.

Paur’s favorite subject is history.

"I really like history because it is interesting to look at and understand the way people thought differently in their time and how they shaped the way things are now," said Paur.