Valedictorians inspired to serve

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Valedictorians Theresia Hendricks and Amber Cox are two exemplary students, not only because of their exceptional abilities in academics, sports and music, but also because of their dedication to serving others throughout their entire high school years and their desire to continue to do so throughout their adult lives. 

Hendricks currently has accumulated 216 hours of community service. Each student at JPII is required to have 110 when they graduate. 

“We have a lot of service hours opportunities. I like staffing retreats. I really like to see them [other students] go through what I went through,” Hendricks said. “It’s kind of like reliving the retreat.” 

She accumulated other service hours by volunteering at the food bank and staffing Special Olympics and trick or treat at the school’s quad for persons with special needs.
Hendricks also excelled at tennis. She started playing in her junior year and has been on a doubles team, which competed at district then state. 

Other extra-curricular activities included being an altar server at her home parish, Corpus Christi Cathedral. She also sings in the Cathedral Youth Choir. She was one of the 5,000 youth from all over the world who sang at the 40th International Congress of the International Federation of Pueri Cantores in Rome last Christmas. 

It was “a huge experience, I was 10-feet from the pope on Dec. 31, my 18th birthday,” Hendricks said. 

In addition to singing for Pope Francis, seeing the Holy Doors open at St. Peter’s Basilica has deepened her faith. “I have been through a lot this year spiritual-wise. I have had a lot of moments that I had to forgive and I’m not one of those people who believe in coincidences. I think God is always working,” she said.

“I love the Year of Mercy and how he [the pope] is bringing that to light…there is a lot of conflict in the world right now,” Hendricks said. 

Attending St. John Paul II High School has really made an impact on her faith. “I want my kids to go to school at JPII, with the teachers I had,” she said.

Although the choice of her major is open-ended, Hendricks feels called to help people through counseling. She will be taking her basics her first year and her major will be psychology.

While Hendricks is inspired to help people through counseling, Cox wants to be a neonatal surgeon. 

“I think graduating in the Year of Mercy really inspires me to make that my mission in my future life. Once I have the funding, I want to have a clinic for people who can’t afford it and show them mercy in their suffering,” Cox said.

Describing herself as “an analytical thinker,” Cox prefers “reasoning and logic rather than interpreting,” she said. Her strength is in math and the sciences. She will be graduating with the Jeanne de Matel Laureate Diploma, an advanced diploma given to students who have an exemplary record in conduct, who have also completed AP (advanced placement) calculus and who have participated in one major service project their junior year. 

Cox completed 188 service hours during her four years in high school. She is vice president of the National Honor Society and president of the student council. 
“It’s been a crazy four years,” she said. 

Cox has been in a Christian environment all her life. She attended St. James Episcopal School until eighth grade. She is an acolyte (altar server) at her home church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, and has been a staff member for summer camp.

“My parents wanted me to stay in a good Christian environment and get a good education. The teachers at IWA are more available than public schools and the emphasis is on service to everybody around you. I would want my kids to go here,” Cox said. 

Besides her volunteer work, she plays the piano and was selected to be in an ensemble to play at the Texas Music Teachers Association State Convention. She is also a gymnast and has competed with other gymnasts from all over the United States. She was also on the varsity track team at IWA for all four years of high school.

Cox has received a $20,000 annual scholarship from Baylor University in Waco and the Carr P. Collins scholarship. The scholarships will help her to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor. She then wants to attend Baylor College of Medicine in Houston to get her medical education.

If valedictorians Hendricks and Cox are any indication of the caliber of students graduating in 2016, then the world will be a better place.