What are the chances of a family having two kids one year apart? What are the chances of one being good at school? What are the chances of both being good? What are the chances of both being better than good?
The answer to these questions ranges from not often to extremely rare but with both Emily and Annie Baek nabbing the highly regarded Governor General Award one year after the other, the odds seem to be nothing more than opinion these siblings would gladly ignore.
It was a proud moment for the Baek family as recent MSS graduate, Annie Baek visited her alma mater on Monday, May 30. She was presented a certificate recognizing her as the Governor General Academic Excellence awardee for the school year of 2020-2021.
“It’s a very high honour and I’m really proud to get it,” Baek exclaimed.
“I worked pretty hard back in my Grade 12 year and I had really good teachers supporting me here.”
Baek visited MSS with her parents and older sister Emily who was extremely proud of her sister for receiving the same honour she had just gotten a year prior.
“I’m very proud of of her and I had no doubt that she could do it because she is a very smart girl.”
Surprisingly, the siblings did not grow up in a household that emphasized academic excellence. Rather, it was something that the sisters had naturally become drawn towards.
“When we were growing up, they didn’t put too much focus on our studies,” Emily explained.
“They just encouraged us to play sports and read as many books as we can.”
The Governor General has been one of the most prestigious awards a student can receive for academic excellence. Starting in 1873 with Lord Dufferin, Canada’s third Governor General, the award was presented to the student with the highest grade point average at the 4 different levels of education; secondary, post-secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels.
The awardee from secondary or high school level will receive a bronze medal. This year, there will be a redesign of the medal to commemorate Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, Mary Simon. Baek and the winner of the Governor General Award for the school year 2021-22 will receive their medal later in the fall.
“I don’t know for sure, we would have to look back at the records but for as long as I can remember, this would be the first time the winners were back-to-back family members,” said Vice Principal Adriane Mouland who presented the certificate to Annie upon her visit to MSS.
“Annie is described by her teachers as someone who is incredibly hard working, always looking to advance herself and advocates for learning more and more. She always extended her thinking past the confines of her assignments.”
Mouland added that Baek excelled in the sciences during her studies at the high school noting that “her science teachers speak very highly of her.”
Baek is currently attending the University of Toronto to become a mechanical engineer.
“I’m very proud of Annie for receiving this recognition today,” said Chloe Cho, Annie and Emily’s mother.
“I wish her more success and happiness in the future.”
