San Juan Hills High Valedictorian Graduates With Associate's Degree

Dana Point, California — Graduation is a major milestone and deserves to be celebrated! That's why Patch and T-Mobile have teamed up to recognize our community's outstanding 2024 graduates.

This submission comes from Jennifer Pointer who nominated Kate of Dana Point.

Graduate’s name

Kate

What grade is the graduate finishing?

High School & Community College at the same time

What school is your graduating student graduating from?

San Juan hills high school & saddleback college

How do you know your graduating student nominee?

She’s my daughter

Tell us why they deserve to be nominated!

Kate has always had a love of learning. Even as a small child she would read and read and read. Also, from a young age, she knew she wanted to be an archaeologist. When she was seven, she joined a local archaeology group at the Bowers Museum and even spoke to them at 10 years old during archaeology weekend. In middle school, she excelled and did not flinch when everything switched from school in person to online. She went into High school two years ahead on math. She is literate in Spanish due to the immersion program. And her learning kept growing. But that came a little bit of boredom, so she asked if she could get her associates degree at the same time, and a lot of hard work she did. She graduated high school with a 4.6 as a Valedictorian, AP with distinction, by literacy with distinction, And she graduated from Saddleback college summa cum laude with the associates degree in anthropology. She was accepted to the University of York in England to study archaeology. When she’s not doing schoolwork, she’s a part of the local sea scouts and Dana Point Harbor called Mariners936. And she also volunteers at the library bookstore, and she teaches sailing at West Wind Sailing in the summertime to youth. She is also a volunteer for the Fiesta Association in San Juan Capistrano that puts on the annual Swallows day parade, the largest non-motorized parade in the country.

What's one thing you want everyone to know about your graduating student nominee?

Never tell her she can’t do something, because she will prove you wrong. When she puts her heart in mind on something she goes for it and she’s unapologetic for it. She’s smart, she’s nice, and snarky. But she knows what she wants to do and she knows what she has to get it done.

Congratulations on your achievements, and all of our best wishes to you in the future, Kate!

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