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With a shy smile Santana Senior (and now graduate) Catherine Valenzuela shared her disbelief. “I honestly thought Mr. Duran was joking when he told me I was the Valedictorian!” Her journey to Santana was not an easy one. “I was a straight A student in honors classes the first semester of my freshmen year, but then I struggled with depression and anxiety and I just stopped going to school.” Online courses were no help as she continued to fall further behind. When her family moved to Rowland Unified and she enrolled in a new high school, it was not the right fit. “I am so glad I found Santana. My first semester I literally took 15 classes and even though I caught up with my units and could return to the other high school, I found so many people I liked and felt supported that I decided to stay here.” She thrived in ASB and loved making all the students get involved in activities.
As Catherine stood on stage last night and addressed her fellow classmates and the crowd, she said, “I would like to share something my mom always told me growing up which was to take life “one step at a time.” I didn’t realize just how far that advice would take me… High School was a lot about taking one step at a time. There were days when the next step felt impossible and days when it felt like nobody saw how hard you were trying. But today we are graduating because we didn’t stop and because we chose to keep going. We are all here today, proving that we are more than capable of success, no matter where we came from.”
At Santana’s Senior Awards Breakfast, Catherine was awarded the Association of Rowland Educators Scholarship. She plans to enter the medical field to pursue nursing. We wish Catherine and all of our Class of 2025 graduates great sucess as they begin their new journey!
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