Three Culver Park High School students who separately wrote comeback stories of the year were saluted at last evening’s School Board meeting with scholarship awards from the Balfour Beatty, the construction company upgrading facilities throughout the School District.
Jesse Diaz, Amelia Soto and Daejah Summerville mainly were called out because they exceeded expectations in two of life’s most crucial values, character and work ethic.
Invited to the front of the room, bashfully each stepped forward, and here is what Culver Park Principal Veronica Montes said:
Jesse Diaz
Jesse came to Culver Park in October 2011 with only 70 credits and a need to work.
His mother was very sick and unable to work. Jesse decided to start working to help his family. There was a point for six months that Jesse held down two jobs while going to school. During his time at Culver Park, he not only caught up with his credits, he worked hard to complete his graduation requirements a month early.
Jesse starts at Santa Monica College in August, and he will be taking 19 units while still working.
Amelia Soto
Amelia arrived at Culver Park in September 2011 as a junior with only 45 credits and an independence and determination to graduate with her class.
She has held a job almost the entire two years that she has attended Culver Park. The flexibility that Culver Park provided her enabled Amelia to do both. Amelia is working on her last class, and she will be graduating with her class on June 21. She is looking into attending West L.A. College
Daejah Summerville
Daejah had to leave Culver City at the end of her sophomore year because of family challenges. She returned to Culver Park last February needing to complete 10 classes to graduate. Because of her perseverance, she was able to complete all classes a few weeks early.
Daejah is signed up to start the pharmacy technician program at West L.A. College in the fall. She eventually wants to transfer to a university to pursue a degree as a pharmacist. She knows that once she finishes the pharmacy tech program and gets a job, she will get better on-the-job training while she is studying to be a pharmacist.
