11 Valencia High School Students Earn Honors
During the month of August, 11 Valencia High School students earned recognition from one or more of the College Board National Recognition Programs. These programs were created to award underrepresented students, give them the opportunity to connect with potential colleges, and help them seek out scholarship opportunities. 84 students within the district earned one or more of the following awards: National African American Recognition Award (NAARA), National Hispanic Recognition Award (NHRA), National Rural and Small Town Award (NRSTA), and National Indigenous Award (NIA).
In order to receive recognition, students had to meet the following criteria:
Earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
Score within the top 10% of test takers in California for the PSAT/NMSQT assessment and/or earn a score of three or higher on two or more AP exams in 9th and 10th grade.
Identify as African American/Black, Hispanic American/Latino, and/or Indigenous/Native, or attend a school in a small or rural town.
Congratulations to the following Valencia students:
Mariano Alberto: NHRA
Ava Francis: NAARA
Paulyne Gandaria: NHRA
Abby Garcia: NHRA
Sivan Garteiz: NHRA
Anthony Gasior: NHRA
Daniel Huiza: NHRA
Gian Martinez: NHRA
Sophia Ordonez: NHRA
Eric Sanders: NHRA
Sophia Venable: NAARA, NHRA
The Viking Vision took the time to interview Paulyne Gandaria and Ava Francis, two recipients of these awards, to hear their thoughts.
What made you want to apply for recognition?
Gandaria: “ I wanted to apply because I felt like it was different compared to other recognitions.”
Francis: “I originally learned about the award through looking around in CollegeBoard’s Big Future program’s website. I was a part of one of the groups being recognized and the application was simple and fast, which is frustratingly uncommon with most academic awards/recognitions.”
2. Why is this award important to you?
Gandaria: “This award is important to me because I feel that it is able to better represent scholars in a minority group.”
Francis: “The award is important to me because it represents what I see as a growing movement to break down some of the stigmas that are applied to many races and socio-economic situations. Especially when these stigmas are education or intelligence-oriented, they have the ability to stunt someone’s academic curiosity or aspirations. So, creating opportunities for members of these groups to be seen and celebrated by a respected institution is an admirable and responsible endeavor.”
3. Would you recommend students to apply for this award?
Gandaria: “Yes, I would recommend this award to other students. It gives a great opportunity to be recognized and it is something different to write on a college application.”
Francis: “I would definitely recommend applying for this award to others, because it takes information that is already present in your CollegeBoard accounts, making it really easy on the student’s part. It’s also just important to take advantage of opportunities that can make your hard work or unique perspective clear to others, because it deserves to be recognized.”
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