Class of 2019 valedictorians and salutatorians receive honors

Victoria Fuentes, the valedictorian at St. John Paul II also earned an associate degree by taking dual credit courses at Del Mar College. She will be attending Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi as a sophomore.

Adel Sauceda, South Texas Catholic
 

VICTORIA FUENTES

Victoria Fuentes, the valedictorian at St. John Paul II, says her goal is to become a certified registered nurse, anesthetist or a nurse practitioner. She credits her interest in the nursing field to anatomy and physiology teacher Norma Trevino, “instilled in me a new interest that challenged me to look further into the medical field,” Fuentes said.

Not only is she graduating from high school, but she has also earned an associate degree from Del Mar College. Fuentes plans on attending Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in the fall to major in pre-nursing and minor in biology. Because she was able to acquire 69 hours of college credit through the dual credit program, she will enter college as a sophomore.

Besides her mother, Norma Martinez, who has always encouraged her to “dream big,” Fuentes recalls that her academic counselor, Ted Garcia, has always been like a father figure to her, “giving me advice and including me in school activities.”

Her service and extracurricular activities while at St. John Paul II include National Honor Society, English National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, St. Francis Garden Club, Interact Club, Health Careers Club, Habitat for Humanity, KEDT Challenge Team, and Legati Circle. She also participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award Camp for two years and volunteered to feed the homeless at Good Samaritan.

“I feel blessed beyond measure because God has granted me wonderful gifts and talents that I can now pass on to others,” she said. 

Salutatorian Rachel LeeSang from St. John Paul II High School wants to become a family practice doctor, like her father. Adel Sauceda, South Texas Catholic

RACHEL LEESANG

Rachel LeeSang, the salutatorian at St. John Paul II High School, hopes to go on and become a family practice doctor. “My dad is a doctor, and I have been inspired by the way he helps people. I want to imitate that in my life because I see all of the good, he does for those around him,” she said. She plans to attend Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio in the fall where she will major in biology in pursuit of this goal.

LeeSang is grateful for all her teachers at St. John Paul II, especially her theology teacher John McFarland. “He is a great Catholic role model that truly inspires me to bear witness to Christ in my everyday life and to radiate God’s love to those around me through my actions,” she said.

Her extracurricular and service activities include National Honor Society, Interact Club, Voices that Care, KEDT Challenge Team, swim team, St. Francis Garden Club, and volunteering to work at class retreats. She has also been a volunteer at the Gregory Food Pantry.

She credits time management skills, perseverance and family support as the secret to her success. “My parents have always encouraged and supported me, and my siblings have done the same. Without their love and encouragement, I don’t think I could have accomplished this,” LeeSang said. She advises that a good circle of friends and supporters makes all the difference. “With God and the support of others, I can accomplish anything that I set my mind to,” she said.

From left, salutatorian Mia Moore and valedictorian Joseph Afuso from Incarnate Word Academy learned valuable life lessons from their cross-country training. Marco Lopez for South Texas Catholic

JOSEPH AFUSO

For Joseph Afuso earning valedictorian at Incarnate Word Academy was a great way to finish up his high school academic career. He plans on studying biology at the University of Notre Dame and attending medical school. His dream is to work in a developing country as an epidemiologist.

He has been involved in many on and off campus activities. He was on the Missions Team, Academics Team, French Club and Angels for Life Club. He was an altar server, a boy scout and a runner on the cross-country and track team. He wasn’t a slouch in coursework either; he took Calculus and French. He says IWA helped him develop a work ethic which will help him stay focused in college and his future career.

Afuso says his teachers always encouraged him to try harder and look deeper into the topics that he studied. He credits his cross-country coach, Donald Patterson, as the one person who had the most influence on him throughout his high school years, “because he constantly pushes my teammates and me to work harder than we think we are capable of.”

Working in Vidor on the school’s Mission Team was a great experience for him. “It helped shape my character by teaching me the importance of working with different kinds of people,” he said. “I define success as being able to take care of both your own needs and the needs of those who need your help.” 

MIA MOORE

Being awarded salutatorian is a very gratifying experience says Mia Moore, Incarnate Word Academy graduate. “There have been many times when I have been jealous of my peers who didn’t try as hard in school and were generally less sleep deprived than I was, so it’s nice to be receiving this reward that’s more tangible than high numbers on a progress report,” she said. 

She plans on attending the University of Texas in Austin this fall to study Mechanical Engineering and hopefully double-major or minor in Mathematics or Computer Science. “I can see myself working for a space program such as NASA or an environmentally-minded tech firm,” Moore said.

She credits her parents, her math teacher, Theresa Mader and like Afuso, coach Patterson for persevering through high school and graduating with distinction. They were instrumental in teaching her how to work hard when she had to and push herself to learn something, “even if I don’t necessarily want to have to store that information in my brain,” Moore said.

“Running cross-country really helped to sculpt my character, in that it taught me how to work hard while having fun at the same time. I had to endure many grueling early morning workouts, but I learned that experiences as tough as these are usually the most rewarding should you muster up the willpower to endure them,” Moore said. “Now that I’m going off into the world, this experience will hopefully translate into me being able to push through anything, all while having a good attitude.”

Bishop Michael Mulvey celebrated the Baccalaureate Masses on May 24 and 25 for graduating seniors from Incarnate Word Academy and St. John Paul II High Schools.