How Battery Creek High's Morgans keep achieving academic excellence

Like the Kentucky Derby, every high school graduation produces a different valedictorian each year, a different “winner” in the race for top academic standing.

This year’s valedictorian at Battery Creek High School, Landon Morgan, shares bloodlines with two previous top finishers. His older sister Allyson and older brother Grayson are both former BC valedictorians.

If parents Daniel and Michelle Morgan were thoroughbred trainers, they would be multimillionaires, writing their own chapters in the annals of racing history.

As it is, they’ll have to settle for being the envy of moms and dads the world over. Their secret is nowhere near earth-shattering.

“We just love our kids and love to spend time with them,” said Michelle. “We don’t think we’re doing anything exceptional.”

Yet all eight of their children are exceptional in their own ways.

When firstborn Allyson was crowned valedictorian of Battery Creek in 2011, her ensuing scholarships allowed her to attend Brigham Young University, where she earned her Master’s degree in accounting.

Lightning struck again two years later when her brother Grayson was named valedictorian of the Class of 2013.

Morgan remembers looking at her husband and asking, “is this really happening again?”

Yet, improbably but somehow predictably, Landon Morgan is now the third child of a union formed 25 years ago in Utah to receive top honors at Battery Creek.

There are five more Morgans in line behind Landon. The pressure to replicate their older siblings’ results must be enormous, yet they all have a fighting chance to be productive.

It begs all sorts of questions, including when will the how-to book by Daniel and Michelle come out and will they donate their own brains to science?

“These kids have done everything on their own, truly,” said Michelle. “They are all remarkable, self-motivated children.”

The family’s humility is striking and sincere, yet these type of life events don’t happen accidentally.

Daniel and Michelle will admit to creating a “comfortable learning environment” in their home, complete with an in-house library that fostered a love of reading in all eight children. But no restrictions were placed on when homework had to be done or how long video games could be played.

The result is a well-rounded and close-knit unit.

When President Harry Truman was asked about his own father’s farm failures back home in Missouri, he pointed out the fact that it would be hard for the father of a U.S. president to be considered anything but a success.

Even though the Morgans have trouble pinpointing their children’s success to any one thing they’re doing, clearly their “love first” approach is working.

“If there is one thing I want all my children to learn, it’s how to treat everyone with kindness,” said Michelle.

That’s an enviable wish for all parents.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 12:06 PM with the headline "How Battery Creek High's Morgans keep achieving academic excellence."