GRADUATION 2022: Huerta, Santiago, Verdijo are named top seniors at Summit | News

One of Evelyn Huerta’s fondest memories of Summit High School was being a member of an all-female CyberPatriot team that performed well in major competitions involving computer skills.

“We try to bring awareness to women in STEM and try to encourage that mentality,” said Huerta.

Her involvement with the team helped prepare her for college, because she will be attending the prestigious California Institute of Technology in Pasadena to study computer science this fall.

Huerta, who achieved a 4.6 grade point average, was one of two valedictorians of the Class of 2022 at Summit.

“It’s a huge honor,” she said, prior to the commencement ceremony at Toyota Arena on May 27. “I’ve worked really hard throughout high school, and I’m really excited to share this moment with my friends, and excited to share it with the other valedictorian as well.”

She was referring to Jesse Santiago, who also attained a 4.6 GPA while also participating in many campus activities, including the marching band, Link Crew, and Key Club.

“It’s really rewarding to see the culmination of my hard work throughout these past four years at Summit,” Santiago said.

He will be attending UC Irvine and majoring in pharmaceutical sciences.

The salutatorian was Sean Verdijo, who had a 4.6 GPA and was president of the Physics Club and president and founder of the Summit Debate Club.

“My years at Summit have been rather crazy — in a good way — and I feel like I’ve learned a lot from all the experiences I’ve gone through,” Verdijo said.

He will be majoring in microbiology at UCLA.

—– MANY OTHER students obtained high honors at Summit, including:

• Outstanding Seniors — Danelia Teran and Elmer Garay

• Tower of Achievement awards — Career Tech, Gabriel Navarro; Educational Support, Yelitza Alvarez; ELL, Elizabeth Alvarez; English, Stephanie Nwaobi; Math — Tomo Solomon; PE, Jacob Ramirez; Science, Evelyn Huerta; Social Science, Emmanuel Okele; VAPA, Grace Piring; World Languages, Manuel Molina.

• Outstanding Senior Athletes — Ken Hubbs Memorial Outstanding Athletes, Alexis Brown and Devean James; Citrus Belt Area Athletes of the Year, Ashlyn Goulet and Alexander Vazquez; Outstanding Summit High School Athletes — Mikayla O’Brien and Mathew Luna.