Star students come in many forms. Each student has their own set
of challenges to overcome and resulting triumphs to celebrate. With
the help of Ann Sobrato and Live Oak high school staff, the Times
selected six graduating seniors to represent the diverse Class of
2009’s collective accomplishment.
Star students come in many forms. Each student has their own set of challenges to overcome and resulting triumphs to celebrate. With the help of Ann Sobrato and Live Oak high school staff, the Times selected six graduating seniors to represent the diverse Class of 2009’s collective accomplishment.
We salute these six stellar students, their families and mentors, and wish all of Morgan Hill’s 600-plus graduating seniors the best the future has to offer.
Luis Gonzalez
For immigrants, small things can take on a greater meaning. Take the achievement awards given throughout high school, for example.
“Those little pieces of paper, they were like small proofs of what I can do for myself,” Mexican immigrant Luis Gonzalez said. The Live Oak High School senior will today become the first member of his family to graduate.
Gonzalez’s family came to the United States in 2001.
Since Gonzalez’s parents had trouble providing for Luis and his two younger brothers, he gave up his freshman pursuits – soccer and track and field – for a lifeguarding job at the Aquatics Center.
Gonzalez believes education is the key to a new world of opportunity – a world his parents weren’t able to enter.
“They told me ‘We’re going to be there for you, but you’re going to be by yourself, discovering new doors and new ways of doing things,'” he said.
The 18-year-old looks forward to being the first in his family, but hopefully not the last, to graduate from high school and college.
“I want to prove to (my brothers) that, maybe we have been through hard times, but you can do it,” he said. “Right now, I don’t have anyone to look up to. I’m going to be there for them to have, to say, ‘My brother did it, why can’t I?’ I am going to be an example for them.”
College attending, major: San Jose State University, undecided
Jonathan Baio
It doesn’t take many encounters with local service organizations or Ann Sobrato High School leadership groups to find prominent senior Jonathan Baio.
This year’s Student Body President, Baio wasn’t involved in leadership at first. But after being encouraged to join ASB by a teacher, the idealist went on to help his class come up with an organized, $100,000 annual budget and led the first class fundraiser. “We had this energy and vision to get things done,” he said.
Later, he got involved in the human rights organization Amnesty International’s campus chapter and was inspired. He’s decided to devote his life to public service, one way or another, and plans to first start medical programs in urban communities that have insufficient health care and then transition into political science to further his work in that field and in environmental policy and other legislative causes.
“Transforming and moving the society forward – that’s my goal,” he said. “I just like helping and giving back.”
College attending, major: University of California, Berkeley, chemical biology and political science
Cristina Diaz
Senior Cristina Diaz has school spirit in spades – and she spread it far and wide during her high school career at Ann Sobrato High School. She’s been involved with a multitude of groups, from Amnesty International to the Creative Writing Club to Interact to the Youth Advisory Committee.
Diaz served as editor of “The Muse,” the school’s first literary magazine.
“That was really cool,” she said. “We wanted to hopefully elevate our school’s intellectual capacity to a higher level.”
Voted Most Spirited her freshman year, the perky teen of Nicaraguan and Puerto Rican descent said she enjoyed the exhilaration and unity that comes with being part of a school community.
“I’ve just really enjoyed planning stuff, putting stuff together,” she said.
Diaz also appreciated participating in community service causes like the benefits show Alms for Asia and People to People, a youth humanitarian group.
She plans to become either a lawyer or a psychologist.
College attending, major: San Francisco State University, humanities and political science
Aaron Persing
From volunteering at his church, St. Catherine’s Catholic Church of Morgan Hill, to serving as Vice President of Live Oak High School’s Patriot Club, senior Aaron Persing is an all-American kid.
One of his proudest accomplishments is a dance put on by the Patriot Club that raised more than $1,000 to send care packages full of Girl Scout cookies and other goodies to a platoon of 15 soldiers in Iraq.
He’s also a member of Interact Club and plays lacrosse for a local league.
All those extracurricular activities didn’t dent his grades, though. With a GPA of 4.32, the lanky blond was named Live Oak’s Class of 2009 salutatorian and will attend University of California, Los Angeles.
“I just have a drive, despite the fact that I procrastinate a lot,” he said with a laugh.
Persing said he would miss his friends and Live Oak’s teachers.
College attending, major: University of California, Los Angeles, biology or bioengineering
Kourtney Kientzy
Live Oak High School senior Kourtney Kientzy is addicted to competition. And apparently, the bright-eyed, blond-haired Live Oak High School senior had the competition shaking in their Ugg boots: she and pal Mary Luna ran uncontested for senior class president and vice president this year.
Kientzy says playing three team sports – softball, soccer and field hockey – has lent her the skills needed to lead her class: namely, teamwork and confidence.
“You have to work together, even with people you don’t like,” she said.
A softball catcher since she was 11, Kientzy was named Live Oak Female Scholar Athlete of the Year with a 4.28 GPA.
She was originally going to attend Ann Sobrato High School, but transferred at the last minute.
“I had a really fun time here,” Kientzy said. “I was able to reconnect with a lot of childhood friends.”
Kientzy said that while she will miss being able to see the same people every day, she looked forward to getting lost on a big campus in a big city and finding new adventures there.
“The more busy you are, the more you’re able to stay on task,” she said.
One thing that won’t keep her busy is sports. She won’t play any at UCLA.
Kientzy is quitting sports cold turkey to attend UCLA in the fall.
“I’ll probably go through withdrawals,” she said jokingly.
College attending, major: University of California, Los Angeles, pre-business economics
Tiani Marshall
It’s been a long four years for Ann Sobrato High School senior Tiani Marshall. She’s spent most of her high school career doing triple duty as a student as well as caretaker and provider for her two younger sisters, who are 6 and 10. She worked three jobs at times – baby-sitting, tutoring and cleaning houses – to help support her single mom and their family.
With bills to pay and the sisters to help raise, school was sometimes the last thing on her mind.
“I can’t really relate to the other students,” she said. “This whole year I didn’t feel like I belonged.”
She couldn’t afford events like the Disneyland trip that the other students went to celebrate their senior year.
Her friends often called her an “old soul” and “mother” of their group, since she sometimes scolded them for acting up – just like she would her younger sisters.
Next year, at San Francisco State University, her education will be the first and only thing to worry about.
“I’m not even going to know what to do with myself,” she said.
College attending, major: San Francisco State University, neonatology
