Saratoga News

Education

Kiwanis honors students who turn things around

By Michele Tjin

One girl started high school with a C average but willed herself to successfully finish honors and advanced placement courses in her junior and senior years.

Another boy went from a failing grade in his Spanish class during his junior year and to an A- the next semester and has aspirations of using his Spanish language skills to work with people in Latin America.

These Los Gatos and Saratoga students will never be contenders for valedictorians, but the Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos still thinks they're worthy enough to be singled out.

The Kiwanis Club recognized 10 seniors from Los Gatos High School, Saratoga High School and NOVA on May 3 for their academic turnaround and gave them each a $1,000 scholarship. These students floundered during their first two years of high school but with the guidance of parents and counselors, they improved their grades significantly.

Some were set back by health conditions but weren't deterred. Alexie Sandri, a Los Gatos student in the NOVA program, missed a year of school because of mononucleosis and struggled with depression. She plans to go to Cabrillo College and UC-Santa Cruz and wants to become an elementary school teacher.

"I want to especially thank NOVA for giving me a chance," she said.

For Christopher Impey, a kidney disease ravaged his immune system, and he couldn't interact with others because of his condition. Today, he also struggles with learning disabilities.

"School has never been easy for him, and he has to work twice as hard," said his academic adviser, Louis Rich at Los Gatos. "But what's so inspirational is that he never let anyone distract him from his goals." Christopher is going to study agricultural science in college and maybe go on to do agricultural work with coffee beans, working alongside his grandfather in Hawaii.

"I had no idea he was winning a scholarship," said his mother, Shannon Impey. "I'm very proud of him."

Jacqueline Judson similarly had a shaky beginning. Because of her cerebral palsy, her parents didn't know if she would ever walk and learn with mainstream students. Despite her muscle fatigue, she refused accommodations, said Rich.

But she has been a source of inspiration to those around her. Jacqueline will be going to UC-Berkeley in the fall and will major in peace and conflict studies. She also wants to study abroad.

"I want to get a more international perspective in my life," she said. "I've never been outside of Northern California, but I hope to make it work."

Other students have stories of being determined and changing their course. Some didn't care about school, while others had a tough time in the classroom. For Saratoga student Lynnea Trujillo, school was never an easy task. She got in trouble for talking too much in class or speaking too brazenly to adults around her. In foster care since childhood, Lynnea eventually found the college bug and pulled her grades from a C- average to a B average.

Augustus Sandigo, another NOVA student, was too distracted at Saratoga, said NOVA registrar Lynne Sims. Augustus has dreams of opening his own small business, perhaps a record shop to reflect his interest in music.

Another student who was honored was Caitlin Baunach of Los Gatos, who struggled with test-taking anxieties. But with extra help, she was able to overcome them and received notification this fall that she was accepted into her first-choice college, Loyola Marymount University.

Los Gatos student Michael Diamond had a difficult time in middle school and had a poor transition into high school. However, he found an outlet in the speech and debate team. In addition, he has been volunteering with the American Cancer Society thrift shop in Los Gatos for the past four years. When he started, he created an inventory management system without being asked, and the system is still being used today.

"Middle school was the worst time of my life, and this high school has been the best four years of my life," Michael said. "I have been part of the debate team for the last three years, and in some part, that is a large part of why I've been doing so well."

He said he's been on a high lately. He just learned he's been accepted to Willamette University, where he plans on studying political science or computer science.

Allison Snee didn't have much of an academic record to be proud of. For most of high school, she was failing her classes and on academic probation. She has taken her share of summer school, and in order to graduate this year she had to pass seven classes her first semester and six classes during the second. Allison has met all her graduation requirements and will go to De Anza College or the Academy of the Arts to study photography or graphic design.

"Without my parents, I wouldn't be graduating in less than a month," she said.

Other students had dramatic turnarounds, where they were once at the bottom of the academic rolls, but their hard work has yielded stellar grades. During David Muench's junior year, he had four Fs during the first grading period. One was in Spanish class, and he amazed his academic counselor Amy Gutierrez by finishing the year with an A- in that class.

David had been taking classes through the Middle College program, in which students take concurrent high school and college courses at West Valley College. He has been flourishing.

"Everything is clicking," he said. "I want to work with people of Latin America. Growing up in Los Gatos, I've been given lots of opportunities. When I look around the world, I see people who don't have the same opportunities. I want to give these opportunities to them."

Rita Warkov of Los Gatos has experienced the best and worst of school grades. Her freshman year marks added up to a 2.8 grade point average, but she said she was capable of more. By her last two years, she enrolled in honors and AP classes. She didn't meet the prerequisites for AP biology, but she petitioned the school's curriculum committee to let her in. To show she was serious, she spent the previous summer doing the homework for the class, and she explained to the committee members why she was passionate about science. Her efforts paid off. Rita has been accepted to New York University and will spend her freshman year studying abroad in Florence, Italy.

"I was used to not working at all and getting by," she said. "But we know how much it takes to do well in this community of high-achieving parents and students."

Rita had a circle of supporters who were confident she could achieve great things.

"I knew I could do it," she said. "My mom knew I could do it. I hate it when she's right."