Top-ranked graduating seniors excited for future

With plans that include being a Disney Imagineer, a nurse practitioner, an attorney and a research scientist, the top-ranked graduating seniors from St. John Paul II and Incarnate Word High Schools say they can’t wait to begin their post-high school lives. 
 

Bridget Lee Sang

Bridget Lee Sang, 18, valedictorian at St. John Paul II, says her dream job is to become a Disney Imagineer, so she can design and create attractions for the Disney parks and cruise lines. 

“They get to tell a story with the ride they created. I really love the roller coasters and small kid rides,” says Lee Sang, who will head to Texas A & M University - College Station this fall. She will major in Structural Engineering and will be able to transfer 44 hours because of the dual credit courses she took while in high school. So she will begin her college career as a sophomore. 

“I really love math. It comes naturally to me,” says Lee Sang, who lives in Portland with her parents Jerome and Cindy Lee Sang. 

Her service activities while at St. John Paul II have included Voices that Care, which organizes activities for special needs students, the Interact Club, a high school version of Rotary Club, and the St. Francis Gardening Club.   She also serves in the Legati Circle, a group of 12 student ambassador leaders selected by teachers to promote enrollment activities at St. John Paul II High School.

Lee Sang, who has been involved in the National Honor Society and the English and Spanish Honor Societies and a variety of service organizations during her years at St. John Paul II High School, was excited when she heard she was named valedictorian. 

“I had a slight advantage with the dual credit classes. I wasn’t aiming for it, but I kept doing the best I could and it just sort of put me there,” she says. 

Alexandria Serna 

Alexandria Serna, 18, salutatorian at St. John Paul II High School, has a special reason for wanting to become a Nurse Practitioner in pediatrics or endocrinology.  

“Since I was three years old, I’ve been a Type I Diabetic,” Serna says, adding that she also hopes to do missionary work in South America to help children who have faced similar challenges. 

She will head to Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi in the fall with 15 dual credit hours under her belt to begin her nursing program, with plans to earn her master’s degree in order to become a Nurse Practitioner. 

“My parents are both nurses and I realized early on that I had a knack for science and anatomy,” says Serna, the daughter of Roger and Marcy Serna. 

“They are happy I am staying close by for college,” she says.  

But her talents don’t stop with science. She says she loves sports. Throughout high school, she has played volleyball, basketball, and has participated in track and cross country running.  Serna received an Honorable Mention in the naming of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times All-South Texas Girls Basketball Team in 2018 and was named to the 2017-2018 TAPPS 5A Second Team for All-State Girls Basketball. 

Serna also served in the Legati Circle, which promotes St. John Paul II High School to prospective students.  

Robert Walsh

Robert Walsh, 17, valedictorian at Incarnate Word Academy says he’s “pretty excited” about receiving that honor and is even more excited about his plans to head to Rice University in Houston in the fall. He has attended Incarnate Word Academy since the age of four. 

“I’m going to double major in biochemistry and mathematics. I hope to do medical research and find a cure for cancer,” says Walsh, who is the son of Johnny and Bobbie Walsh. 

His interest in science was ignited during his freshman year when one of his teachers, Debra Hernandez, gave in-depth lessons and lectures about genetics. 

“She discussed many of the current problems in the world, which was very interesting to me,” Walsh says. 

He played baseball and was on the TAPPS Academic Team, where his specialties were mathematics and number sense. Walsh was a member of the National Honor Society and was president of the Incarnate Word Academy Chapter of Mu Alpha Theta, a mathematics honor society.  He also participated in a mission project this academic year, helping Hurricane Harvey victims in Beaumont.   

Ashley Montgomery

Ashley Montgomery, 18, salutatorian at Incarnate Word Academy, will head to the University of Texas in Austin to attend both the McCombs School of Business and the Moody College Honors Program at the Moody School of Communication.   

“I want to study abroad and go to Law School,” says Montgomery, who is the National Honor Society President and editor in chief of the yearbook and student online newspaper. Her parents are Alvin and Theresa Montgomery. 

She hopes to be an attorney for a news corporation, and has represented her school on the TAPPS speech and debate team and has been in the TAPPS One Act Play competition.   

What Montgomery is looking forward to the most this summer is attending Camp Capers in the Episcopalian Diocese of West Texas. 

“I’ve been a camper there for four summers. I love being a part of the Happening movement, a weekend retreat for teens through the Diocese of West Texas,” she says. 

“I’m really looking forward to having the summer to relax and prepare for college,” Montgomery says.  

Bishop Michael Mulvey celebrated the Baccalaureate Mass May 25 and 26 for graduating seniors from Incarnate Word Academy and St. John Paul II High School.