Pitman Award winners include: Front Row - Crystal Sanders, Bonnie Harrison. Alison Sciarrino,
Virginia Corless, Brandi Tsang and Ginger Campbell.
Second row - Lacy Gabbard, Annie Graham, Judge Jennifer Detjen,
Jessie Smith, Sierra Smith, Carrie Skully and Bryce Bullock.
Back row - Kyle Robinson, Joshua Figatner,
Matt Montgomlery and Joey Medley.
Yosemite High School Counselor Bob Yohn presented a special plaque to Virginia Corless
who has been selected as one of 2,500 National Merit Scholarship finalists in the country.
Sixteen
Yosemite High School seniors were honored recently as class valedictorians.
They were guests of honor at a dinner attended by their families, friends and
school staff.
Students
who are selected to be valedictorians have a grade point average over 4.00.
Because of the International Baccalaureate program and honors programs at YHS,
students can achieve a grade point average higher than 4.00.
The
valedictorians received a number of gifts from community businesses.
The 2001
valedictorians are: Bryce Bullock, Ginger Campbell, Virginia Corless, Joshua
Figatner, Lacey Gabbard, Annie Graham, Bonnie Harrison, Joey Medley, Matthew
Montgomery, Kyle Robinson, Crystal Sanders, Alison Sciarrino, Carrie Skulley,
Jessie Smith, Sierra Smith and Brandi Tsang.
In
addition to their outstanding academic records, these students have received
numerous awards during their high school careers, they have been active in a
wide range of activities at the school and they have been student leaders.
Supeiror
Court Judge Jennifer R. Detjen, seated at Bass Lake, was the master of
ceremonies. YHS Principal Steve Raupp assisted Judge Detjen with the awards
presentation and addressed the students, their parents and friends.
“These are
all outstanding scholars with a wide range of interests,” he said. “One thing
stands out about this group — they are really nice people! I feel very
fortunate to be principal of Yosemite High School.”
Virginia
Corless received a special plaque from YHS Counselor Bob Yohn for being one of
2500 National Merit Scholar finalists in the United States.
The essays
they wrote for the dinner’s program best describe the diversity of these young
people. Excerpts from those comments follow.
Bryce
Bullock was on the state chamlon team for two years. He has performed in five
operas with the Fresno International
Grand Opera and California Opera Association. He says he cannot think of
anything he would rather do for a career than “sing euphonious arias for
audiences around the world.” However, he will be pursuing a college degree in
computer engineering in the event the musical career does not happen.
“Ideally,
I would design digital musical instruments, an occupation which accommodates my
love for both computers and music,” he says.
Ginger
Campbell says during her high school career she discovered her teachers “were
more than willing to take time out of their busy schedules to help me
understand the tough concepts during lunch and after school, to offer
encouragement, and just to talk.”
The
encouragement she received in high school from her friends, teachers,
counselors and parents “aided me to be a strong, confident individual who
embraces the world and my future goals with an open mind.”
Virginia
Corless says “Yosemite High School has been my place of discovery,
disappointment, joy and maturation. It is where I, with the help of many,
created my individual self.”
She was
also a member of the two-time state championship Academic Decathlon Team.
Virginia
will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Her
dream is to be an astronaut and explore Mars.
Joshua
Figatner was involved in the International Baccalaureate program at YHS and he
played soccer. He says one of the largest influences in his life up until now
has been high school, “not just because of the social aspect, but also because
of the quality of educators I have encountered.”
He says
that throughout his life “many important individuals have influenced me. I only
hope that as I continue to grow and learn, I can return the favor.”
Lacey
Gabbard says the ideals, life skills and values she learned in high school will
help her for the rest of her life. Teachers, other students and her family have
helped her with her future goals by setting examples.
“This,
along with the experiences I have gathered in high school, has instilled in me
the desire to attend college and earn a degree,” she says.
Annie
Graham played volleyball throughout high school and says “nothing could compare
to the feeling we had this year after winning the Section III Valley Finals
against Sierra High.”
She will
enroll at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the fall. She says
she will look back on her years at YHS “as a positive experience, one that has
prepared me to continue on my own next year, and one that has changed me for
the better, if not for the best.”
Bonnie
Harrison assumed leadership roles both in the Association Student Body at YHS
and at her church. She says through her involvement with the youth group at
church, she “fell in love with the work of the church, and have decided to
pursue a career in ministry.”
She says
she learned the importance of true friendship and how to be a friend while in
high school. “I am grateful for the challenges that have been presented to me,”
she says, “because it has taught me both how to succeed and how to fail.”
Joey
Medley says highlights of his high school career include his slam dunk against
Corcoran at a home basketball game this year and winning league in basketball
his sophomore year.
One of his
most meaningful experiences was his youth group’s mission trip to Mexico the
summer before his junior year.
He will
attend UC Santa Barbara where he plans to earn his bachelor’s degree and then
eventually attend graduate school. “My education will continue to be my
priority,” he says, “because I really understand the importance of an excellent
education.”
Matt
Montgomery says at this point in his life, he cannot imagine being happier
“unless Mr. Carpenter gave the IB History class a little less homework.”
He will
attend the University of California at Berkeley.
Matt says
he became a “confident, joyful young man” while attending YHS, thanks to his
friends, teachers and his mother, who, he says, is “Wonder Woman.”
Kyle
Robinson learned during high school “that you can’t stereotype people - there
is a lot you don’t know about a person just by looking at them.” He says he’s
also learned to have fun: “You can’t waste all of your time with school.”
He played
soccer during junior high and high school and his most memorable experiences
were from soccer games and the last game this year when “our whole soccer team
cried together because we knew we would never have that close of a team ever
again.”
Crystal
Sanders called her high school years “really exceptional.” She enjoyed her
classes, cheerleading and her friends.
She
credits her success to her family. “I could not have come this far without the
undying love and support of my family. I am very fortunate to feel the
incredible love that I do, and I know that it will bring me to many great
achievements in the future.”
Alison
Sciarrino learned during high school that “sleep is a beautiful thing that I
don’t get to experience very often.”
Her busy
schedule includes music, drama, cheerleading, Spanish Club, being with friends
and taking trips. She credits God for her success: “God has really blessed my
life infinitely, particularly during these high school years, it seems. He has
brought so many important people and interesting opportunities into my life.”
For Carrie
Skulley, high school “has been stressful and hectic with internal assessments
and extended essays, but it has always been fun.”
Participation
on the Mock Trial team helped shape her career goals. She will major in
political science at UC Santa Barbara. One of her most memorable experiences in
high school was the Spanish Club trip to Puerto Vallarta where they distributed
school supplies and clothing to children.
“I will
never forget the smiles on the faces of all of the children as we gave them
simple items like paper and crayons.”
Jessie Smith’s thoughts are already far away “traveling down
Highway 99, through small towns and past road stops. Drifting for a moment
across college campuses, and then, finally, to LA - the city of angels - where
movies and magic are made.”
She wants to become involved in “all the motion behind the
picture. So off I’m going to go, notebook in one hand, script in the other, to
see if I can make it in the slightly twisted world of Hollywood, Tinsel Town at
its finest.
All of her high school education has been wonderful for
Sierra Smith. “I have gained an understanding and respect for all of the staff
in my school by being with them and seeing all they do,” she says.
She has been actively involved in student government, has
chaired numerous student events, is a student representative on the District
Board of Education and the Superintendent’s council.
She will begin her higher education at the Fresno State
University Craig School of Business where she plans to earn a master’s degree
in business administration with an emphasis on marketing/event coordinating.
Her ultimate goal is to be head event coordinator of Disney
Corporations.
Brandi Tsang has been able “to grow in mind, heart, spirit
and personality” in high school “as a result of my academics, my teachers, and
the unconditional support of my family and friends.”
Looking forward to what the future offers, she says “I have
no delusions of ease or perfection, but I am ready to face both the
difficulties and joys which life presents me, with belief in myself and the
abilities I have been lovingly, and painstakingly, equipped with.”
She calls herself “an aspiring journalist, the maturing
spiritual youth, the cautious explorer.”
All of the students, in one way or another, thanked their parents
and credited them with much of their success, happiness and optimism about
their future.
Bill Atwood, Past Exalted Ruler of Elks Lodge 2724,
concluded the evening’s remarks by commenting “When you wonder about the future
of the world, think about tonight.”