Seniors Richard Larsen and Daniel Saucedo are now eligible to compete for full scholarships through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The organization rewards high-achieving students with national recognition and scholarships.

Larsen and Saucedo, both 17, have an impressive list of extracurricular activities and out-of-school achievements as well as an exemplary academic record. In addition to carrying a full load of advanced placement, college preparatory and junior college courses, the boys participate in a myriad of after-school and cultural activities. Larsen, a second-degree black belt, has been active in martial arts for nearly 13 years and has studied tae kwan do exclusively for eight. In addition to a rigorous training and academic schedule, Larsen finds time to volunteer at the Sacred Heart Community Center on First Street and Alma Avenue, where he does "a little of everything," from sorting clothes to packing groceries in the food pantry for needy families. After school Larsen works at a local movie theater. He has also obtained his amateur ("ham") radio license, which allows him to "use a giant radio station." He takes a break from school and volunteering during the school year to exercise his humor at an improvisational comedy class at Sunnyvale's Comedy Sportz.

Saucedo is a board member for the youth group at Temple Emanu-El in San Jose, where he is in charge of finance. The group schedules weekend retreats for local teens at which they can discuss social issues and, ultimately, participate in a social action project. Saucedo is also active on Willow Glen High's badminton team and participates in an advanced placement sculpture class. He is a prolific guitar player and singer and has released an album on his own record label, which he started early last year. Since its April release, Saucedo's album, Geek the Mighty, has sold more than 100 copies, and he is expecting to release a follow-up album soon. He deems his brand of music "geek rock" and has launched a website and multimedia CD to support his work.

Both Larsen and Saucedo will be attending four-year colleges after graduation next June. Larsen is considering Stanford or UC-Berkeley, with a possible major in electrical engineering or law. While Saucedo knows that he'll attend a UC school, he hasn't yet decided which one, and is considering a liberal arts major. Both boys are looking forward to a broader educational spectrum in college, where they can explore various fields and direct their course of study from there.

But for now, Larsen and Saucedo said, they are just enjoying their senior year at Willow Glen High, looking forward to the prom and spending time with friends before college. Larsen listed mock trial, literature and advanced photo classes as being his current favorite school activities, while Saucedo mentioned art and sculpture as his favorite classes.

When asked about his success with both the SAT and PSAT, Larsen stated that he was helped by general SAT study guides he picked up at the library, but most notably by his father, who assigned him "10 words a day, for, like, 100 days" from the SAT guidebook. As for his success on the math portion, Larsen credits "good teachers" for helping him build his math skills over the years.

Saucedo took a different approach, focusing solely on his general coursework at Willow Glen High and avoiding SAT prep courses or study guides. He preferred to study on his own, saying his philosophy was "not to stress" and to realize when on the test to guess or "just move on." He added, however, "One of the most difficult things during the test was knowing when your guess was a good guess—especially with math. You can get caught up checking one answer over and over again."

Both boys stated that "stressing" was the one thing that bothered most students about the SAT and PSAT—and caused the most performance problems. Larsen's advice for students? "Don't get too worked up over the test—it is just a test, and you'll do better when you're calm." He adds, "Don't cram; it won't help. You'll just forget everything when you sit down."

WGHS vice principal, Carmen Mahood, said that Larsen and Saucedo are "great kids" who should be proud of their outstanding academic achievements.