They took very different paths and wound up in the same place – at the top of their class.
The Chaparral High School Class of 2024 valedictorian is Muhammad Dar, and the salutatorian is Maddie Fey.
Chaparral HS Valedictorian Muhammad Dar
Dar combined high school with two years of college through the Killeen ISD STEM Academy at Central Texas College. He earned an associate degree during the recent college commencement.
“I’m proud and happy,” said Dar of coming to the end of high school and finishing at the top of the class.
“All the hard work has come to fruition, and I feel like I’ve lived up to my parents’ dreams and made them proud.”
He is headed to the University of Texas and plans to study biology on a pre-med track to become a physician.
Dar grew up in Killeen. He attended Bellaire Elementary, Patterson Middle School and Harker Heights High School before moving over to Chaparral High when it opened a year ago.
The past two years, he has spent much of his time at school at CTC. “I liked it a lot,” he said. “It got me out of my comfort zone and into a college environment. I had to learn a lot of time management.”
For as long as he can remember, Dar said he has maintained a goal to finish at the top of his graduating class.
He said he has made it a habit to surround himself with people on a similar high-achieving path, made good choices and held an ambitious mentality. He also credits the example of his family.
Chaparral HS Salutatorian Maddie Fey
Fey managed to complete a heavy early load of dual credit and Advanced Placement courses while competing at the highest level of state high school track and field at three different schools.
In some ways, Chaparral’s salutatorian has been in transition most of her high school years.
“I’m ready,” she said of finishing high school and moving on to the University of Kansas, where she is set to continue to compete in the shot and discus in track and field.
Moving from San Antonio Southwest to Midlothian and this year to Killeen ISD, “it’s not too big of a transition,” she said of her pending move to college.
Her dad is a civil engineer, and her mom is superintendent of KISD. She and her two older siblings needed little added motivation to excel.
“It was never really drilled into us,” she said. “We just worked hard. We had a good example and followed.” Her sister, currently at Rice University plans to continue to medical school.
Fey, fresh off winning the state championship in the discus for the fourth year in a row and the silver medal in the shot put for the third year in a row has some national meets to compete in and then a collegiate track career.
She plans to pursue a career in sports medicine.
“I don’t think I would have been as successful in sports if I didn’t move around,” she said. “I learned a lot about balance.”
Taking a heavy load of dual credit and AP courses during her first two years of high school allowed her to take lighter loads the past two years, giving her more time to work out and hone her throwing skills.
“I basically got my work done in school and earned a lot of credits early,” she said.
She relates easily to the highly mobile population in Killeen and will likely talk about change in her graduation speech.
Everyone at Chaparral High School, finishing its second year, had to move, whether across town or throughout life with the military, she pointed out.
“Change is hard, but it’s not bad. It prepares you for the future and gives you an opportunity to grow.”
Chaparral High School graduation is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, May 24 at the Cadence Bank Center in Belton.
