TISHOMINGO, Okla. – Cali Northcutt believes in finishing anything she starts to the best of her ability. From a very young age, she knew she wanted to excel in academics. She had a goal to become the valedictorian of her high school class one day.
Focused on putting her best foot forward, Northcutt, a Chickasaw citizen, leaned on faith and family while balancing school, leadership roles and service to her community. Her hard work paid off in the spring when she became one of the 2025 Tishomingo High School valedictorians.
“My motivation was knowing that whenever I was going to walk across the stage, I would be proud of what I had earned because I had put in the work to do it,” Northcutt said.
Northcutt said her speech focused on the support systems she had pushing her to succeed during times of doubt or hardship.
“I talked about how I didn’t get here on my own,” Northcutt said. “I had to rely on my own faith — my religious faith — and my family.”
At Tishomingo, Northcutt served as class president all four years of high school, was active in the National FFA Organization, golf and cheer, and participated in the Chickasaw Nation Define Your Direction program, advocating against opioid and alcohol misuse among teens.
Through each activity, she worked to lead by example while prioritizing her academics.
“It was just knowing I chose to prioritize my academics. There were times I had to remind myself of the end goal, and that meant I had to be OK with sometimes missing out on some things in order to keep them a priority,” Northcutt said.
Her perseverance is something she says she will carry with her as she begins her next chapter at Oklahoma State University in the fall, where she plans to major in biology on a pre-med track.
Hoping to take on a career in the medical field focused on children’s needs, she is weighing her options between pediatrics and speech pathology.
“There are so many different figures in my life, like my teachers and even my doctors. When I was little that made such an impact on me,” Northcutt said. “I would just love to be able to do that for somebody else’s kid.”
She dreams of returning home to Tishomingo in the future to serve the community that raised and shaped her.
“One thing that I would love to be able to do is come back and work here in Tishomingo and be able to work with kids, whether it’s being in a school as a speech pathologist or in a hospital as a pediatrician.”
For Northcutt, success is not just about personal achievement. It is about honoring her family, her values and her Chickasaw heritage while continuing to serve and strengthen the community that she holds so dear.