King’s Fork High School’s 2014 valedictorian plans to pursue a career in medicine. Recognizing that health care today is more than just making the sick well, she also plans to study business.

Kayla Vincent discovered she was King’s Fork’s top student in January, she said, after second-semester grades were released.

“I didn’t believe it then, and I still don’t believe it,” she said.

She said she has most enjoyed biology and history courses, adding, “I really love science.”

“My AP (Advanced Placement) government class — that was a good course too,” she said. “I think those two courses helped me decide where I want my future path to be.”

Eventually, Vincent wants to attend medical school and specialize in dermatology.

She will attend the University of Virginia — her mother’s alma mater. There, she will major in chemistry and minor in leadership, she said.

“I found a program where you can earn your medical degree and an MBA,” she said, adding she is also looking at politics.

Participating in the Health Occupations Students of America group kindled her love of medicine, Vincent said.

“Then, with the political aspect of it, I feel that with 21st-century medicine, you have to be equipped in business, because not only will you be a physician, you will be an entrepreneur as well,” she said.

“It really helps to be equipped to serve my patients to the best of my ability.”

Vincent said she has been accepted into a scholarship program that frees her from area requirements. “You make your own curriculum, pretty much,” she said.

Being in the International Baccalaureate program rates among Vincent’s fondest memories of King’s Fork High School, she said.

“It has opened a lot of doors,” she said.

Among the faculty, she said guidance counselors Mr. Baxter and Ms. Coley “have always been really supportive.”

Then, she said that King’s Fork High’s principal, Stenette Byrd III, has been “quite influential” since coming to the school at the beginning of the school year.

“I think he’s made a positive change, though he hasn’t been here long,” she said.

Vincent said she had tried to meet the high standards of her parents, Sherman and Kimberly Vincent.

“They told me that as long as I continue doing well, that’s all that they ask for,” she said.

“My mom was more excited than my dad — she was screaming.”