VALEDICTORIANS

The best and brightest high school graduates from the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys are honored each year as valedictorians. Various methods are use to choose the honorees, which produced up to 30 at some schools. Five valedictorians, including a set of twins, share their thoughts as they depart their familiar campuses in search of higher education.

Fareed Elcott

Residence: Encino

School: Birmingham High School, Van Nuys

GPA: 4.0

College: Brown University

Career goal: undecided

“My greatest fear is going from a public school directly to an ultra-competitive Ivy League university. I’m intimidated by the fact that everyone is the caliber of a valedictorian and everyone is a top notch student. I’ve always been taught, especially by my dad, ‘Whatever you go into, just make sure you’re the best at it.’ I don’t really know what I want to go into, so I can’t put my finger on what kind of mark I want to leave behind. It’s just agoal to be the best at whatever you do.”

****

Trishna Goswami

Residence: Chatsworth

School: Cleveland High School, Reseda

GPA: 4.42

College: UC Berkeley

Career goal: physician

“High school has been great. It’s been a growing experience but I’m ready to move on. I’m a little scared. It’s a new time for me and I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t really have big goals. I just want to be a person who did her best. I want to serve the people the best I can...My inspiration came mostly from my culture, in which education is highly stressed. My father instills in me the fire, the need to be the best I can be, but while always remaining humble.”

****

Trishul Goswami

Residence: Chatsworth

School: Cleveland High School, Reseda

GPA: 4.18

College: UC Berkeley

Career goal: investment banker or management consultant

“I want to be pretty successful. I’d like to get married, have two children and retire at 55 so I have time for my kids. That’s a major goal of mine...Hearing the Republicans talk about education cuts, I realize I might not have the grants and student aid I will need. I will have to look to private corporations and banks for loans. Hopefully things will work out OK.”

****

Susan Leptuch

Residence: Lake View Terrace

School: Valley Alternative Magnet High School, Van Nuys

GPA: 4.193

College: Pierce College, where she has been a student since her sophomore year and has about 50 units.

Career goal: university English professor

“Leaving high school is a little bit scary because there are so many problems in society, especially in L.A. That’s the cool thing about our school. It’s diverse and individuality is encouraged. I’m better off than a lot of people. I’m used to dealing with all kinds of people. I feel really prepared. Going to Pierce has helped me decide what I want to do. It’s given me a glimpse of college life.”

****

Natasha Viquez

Residence: Northridge

School: Alemany High School in Mission Hills

GPA: 4.4308

College: USC

Career goal: genetic researcher

“People ask me who my role model was. I’ve never had one. I was always brought up with idea that if you have a gift, you should make the most of it. That’s what kept me going. Learning has been easy for me. It just came naturally. I always wanted to do my best, otherwise I would feel guilty.”

Public School Valedictorians

AGOURA HIGH SCHOOL

(Agoura Hills)

Brian Fields

Agoura Hills

4.2

USC

ANTELOPE VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

(Lancaster)

Prempreet Bajaj

Lancaster

4.0

UC San Diego

Jennifer A. Brown

Lancaster

4.0

UC Davis

Sergio Garcia

Lancaster

4.0

UC San Diego

Daniel Wood

Lancaster

4.0

UC Santa Barbara

BIRMINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL

(Van Nuys)

Pamela Gordon

Encino

4.13

UC San Diego

Frisley Juarez

Los Angeles

4.03

UC San Diego

Shahrzad Naficy

Encino

4.04

UC San Diego

Shea Tomsin

Van Nuys

4.03

UCLA

BURBANK HIGH SCHOOL

(Burbank)

Maria T. Devera

Burbank

4.59

College N/A

BURROUGHS HIGH SCHOOL

(Burbank)

Nick Howard

Burbank

4.46

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CALABASAS HIGH SCHOOL

(Calabasas)

Marilyn Niravath

West Hills

4.33

USC

Amy Sun

Calabasas

4.33

Cornell University

Lindsay Weissbach

Calabasas

4.33

UC BerkeleyCANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL

(Canoga Park)

Dube

Canopa Park

4.159

UC Irvine

CANYON HIGH SCHOOL

(Canyon Country)

Renisa Andika

Canyon Country

4.46

UC Berkeley

CHATSWORTH HIGH SCHOOL

(Chatsworth)

Ori Yellin

Northridge

4.29

UC San Diego

CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL

(Reseda)

Ali Reza Alemozafar

Reseda

4.23

Cornell University

Brian Algren

Los Angeles

4.18

Boston University

Tracy Carpenter

Reseda

4.12

UCLA

Alice Y. Chang

Northridge

4.38

Wellesley College

Janet Doniger

North Hollywood

4.05

Smith College

Edgardo A. Eguizabal

Winnetka

4.12

USC

Rebecca Sara Graff

Northridge

4.15

UC Berkeley

Patricia Grove

Winnetka

4.27

Master’s College

Jacob Hoover

Winnetka

4.0

UCLA

Josh Horowitz

Granada Hills

4.0

UCLA

Billy Hu

Reseda

4.18

UCLA

Dang Hong Huynh

Reseda

4.05

UC Riverside

Wasim Hasan Khaled

Canoga Park

4.25

UC Berkeley

Geoffrey S. Kim

Winnetka

4.13

UCLA

Gloria Lim

Northridge

4.01

UC Berkeley

Brenda Lee

Northridge

4.0

UCLA

Cheryl Locke

Woodland Hills

4.3

UC Berkeley

Nita C. Mahajan

Granada Hills

4.3

UC San Diego

Timothy S. McGrath

Reseda

4.03

UCLA

Anupama K. Menon

North Hills

4.26

Stanford

George Morga

Panorama City

4.27

UCLA

Sejal Patel

Winnetka

4.06

Pierce College

Aditi J. Rao

Reseda

4.32

Wellesley College

Channpal Singh

Reseda

4.09

Brigham Young University

Kimberly H. Stern

Canoga Park

4.02

UC San Diego

Linh Tu Tran

Winnetka

4.04

Cal State Northridge

Ariane White

Granada Hills

4.3

Middlebury College

Colin Eric Woodruff

Sunland

4.15

Stanford University

DESERT WINDS HIGH SCHOOL

(Lancaster)

Kevin Delamotte

Lancaster

3.53

Undecided

EARHART HIGH SCHOOL

(North Hollywood)

Lara Aleman

3.2

Valley College

EL CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOL

(Woodland Hills)

Cynthia Aragon

Woodland Hills

4.063

Stanford University

Samantha Archussachat

Saugus

4.0

UC San Diego

Michael Armen

West Hills

4.207

Joshua E. Bandur

Woodland Hills

4.222

Dartmouth College

Jennifer M. Cole

West Hills

4.032

UC Davis

Tracey L. Conn

Woodland Hills

4.133

UC Santa Cruz

Sarah Kahen

Woodland Hills

4.119

UC Berkeley

Amber Michelle Kaufman

Woodland Hills

4.065

UC Santa Barbara

Kim

Woodland Hills

4.188

UCLA

Kenrick B. Kumahara

Woodland Hills

4.094

UC Berkeley

Stefanie Leder

Woodland Hills

4.0

UC Berkeley

Lee

West Hills

4.119

UC Berkeley

Allison Levy

Woodland Hills

4.09

UCLA

Coree A. Newman

Woodland Hills

4.05

Smith College

Andre Nigoghossian

West Hills

4.0

UC Berkeley

Taylor M. Olsen

Woodland Hills

4.172

UCLA

Erik S. Paschall

West Hills

4.123

Pomona College

Rai

West Hills

4.321

UC Berkeley

Candice J. Riley

Woodland Hills

4.094

UC Berkeley

Sam Sayani

West Hills

4.017

College N/A

Reni M. Thomas

Woodland Hills

4.2

UC Berkeley

Alex Wagner

West Hills

4.031

Brown University

Bethany S. Weinstein

West Hills

4.095

Brandeis University

Mahrokh Yashar

Woodland Hills

4.047

UCLA

Edrea Yu

Woodland Hills

4.29

UC Berkeley

GLENDALE HIGH SCHOOL

(Glendale)

Paola Aghajanian

Glendale

4.42

UC Berkeley

GRANADA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

(Granada Hills)

Elaine Ko

Northridge

4.27

UC Berkeley

GRANT HIGH SCHOOL

(Van Nuys)

Yevgeny Berdichevsky

Panorama City

4.24

UC Berkeley

Pavel Ekmekchyan

North Hollywood

4.03

UCLA

Daniel Erlikhman

Encino

4.24

Princeton University

Valentin Garcia

Los Angeles

4.0

Los Angeles City College

Victor Ademar Garcia

North Hollywood

4.0

Harvey Mudd College

Simonne Leb

Studio City

4.0

UC Berkeley

Hoaichi Thi Phan

North Hollywood

4.09

UCLA

Diana G. Young

North Hollywood

4.0

UCLA

GREY HIGH SCHOOL

(Reseda)

Kathy Bonilla

Reseda

3.4

Pierce College

HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL

(Palmdale)

Olivia Espino

Palmdale

4.0

Rutgers College

Joshua D. Hampton

Palmdale

4.0

U.S. Military Academy

Jaimie Jordan

Lake Elizabeth

4.0

UC Santa Cruz

Kyle M. Nesweld

Acton

4.0

UC San Diego

Jason B. Welle

Palmdale

4.0

Oregon State

KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL

(Granada Hills)

Ara Baran

Granada Hills

4.09

UCLA

Czara Delallana

Mission Hills

4.03

Santa Monica College

Tamara Katz

Granada Hills

4.07

UC San Diego

Lisa Mandelsohn

Granada Hills

4.14

UC San Diego

Brooke Olson

Granada Hills

4.0

UCLA

Stephen Osgood

Granada Hills

4.10

UCLA

Vinh Phan

Panorama City

4.19

UCLA

Caylor Rasner

Granada Hills

4.16

UC San Diego

Kelly Robins

Granada Hills

4.03

Brigham Young University

Daniel Treiman

Granada Hills

4.29

UC Berkeley

LITTLEROCK HIGH SCHOOL

(Littlerock)

Michael De Leon

Palmdale

4.0

USC

Karen Rosenberry

Palmdale

4.0

University of Denver

Michelle Thibault

Littlerock

4.0

University of Colorado at Boulder

MONROE HIGH SCHOOL

(North Hills)

Maria Abundis

North Hills

4.03

CSUN

Raluca Hirina

Arleta

4.06

UCLA

Kim

Van Nuys

4.21

UCLA

Christina Owens

Los Angeles

4.19

UC Berkeley

Jason Ro

North Hills

4.24

Harvey Mudd College

Tamara Rudolph

Canoga Park

4.0

UC Berkeley

Russo

Northridge

4.03

UCLA

Sachdeva

North Hollywood

4.22

UC Berkeley

Ann Sobolewska

Sylmar

4.25

UCLA

Kenny Trinidad

Panorama City

4.23

UCLA

MT. LUKENS HIGH SCHOOL

(Tujunga)

Melissa (Missy) von Hallberg

Sunland

3.7

Employment

NORTH HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

(North Hollywood)

David Lowsky

Studio City

4.58

Stanford

PALMDALE HIGH SCHOOL

(Palmdale)

Ronald Richard Martin, Jr.

Palmdale

4.0

U.S. Naval Academy

Sarah Renee Phelps

Palmdale

4.0

Cornell University

Angelica Rose Plascencia

Palmdale

4.0

Pepperdine University

POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL

(Sun Valley)

Gonzalez

Sun Valley

4.0

Sauwalee Maliwan

Pacoima

4.23

UC Irvine

Patchareeya Pumpang

Panorama City

4.23

USC

Annelyn Tolentino

Sun Valley

4.16

UCLA

UC Riverside

QUARTZ HILL HIGH SCHOOL

(Quartz Hill)

Brandy Burgess

Lancaster

4.0

UCLA

Michael Golden

Lancaster

4.0

Undecided

William Harjes

Lancaster

4.0

UCLA

Shirisha Janumpally

Lancaster

4.0

UCLA

Emily Mark

Lancaster

4.0

USC

Michael Nelson

Lancaster

4.0

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Jill Stockstill

Lancaster

4.0

Mississippi State

Joy Wilson

Palmdale

4.0

UC Irvine

RESEDA HIGH SCHOOL

(Reseda)

Daniel Kaplan

Tarzana

4.351

Cal Tech

Michelle Switzky

Encino

4.23

UCLA

SAN FERNANDO HIGH SCHOOL

(San Fernando)

Bradford David Bigler

Sylmar

4.23

U.S. Military Academy

SYLMAR HIGH SCHOOL

(Sylmar)

Robel Yirdaw

Sylmar

4.5

UC Berkeley

TAFT HIGH SCHOOL

(Woodland Hills)

Gelareh Zargaraff

Tarzana

4.25

UCLA

VAN NUYS HIGH SCHOOL

(Van Nuys)

Meredith Protas

Canoga Park

4.483

Pomona College

VERDUGO HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

(Tujunga)

Jeremy Hood

Tujunga

4.0

Cal Poly Pomona

Jin-Wen (Ingrid) Lin

Lake View Terrace

4.18

UC San Diego

WHITCOMB CONTINUATION HIGH SCHOOL

(Glendora)

Jonna Evelyn Benson

Glendora

4.0

Citrus College

Private School Valedictorians

ANTELOPE VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

(Lancaster)

Jenny Chen

Lancaster

3.81

Antelope Valley College

ARMENIAN GENERAL BENEVOLENT UNION MANOOGIAN-DEMIRDJIAN SCHOOL

(Canoga Park)

Melineh Kikeshian

West Hills

4.69

Pierce College

Ani Oruncakciel

Northridge

4.44

UCLA

Tamar Tokat

Northridge

4.57

UCLA

BELLARMINE-JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL

(Burbank)

Mario Montoro

Glendale

4.419

Undecided

BETHEL CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

(Lancaster)

Peter Thompson

Lancaster

3.6

Antelope Valley College

BUCKLEY SCHOOL

(Sherman Oaks)

Meredith Lopuch

Los Angeles

3.93

Stanford University

CAMPBELL HALL

(North Hollywood)

Gareth De Sanctis

Los Feliz

4.32

Northwestern University

CHAMINADE COLLEGE PREPARATORY

(West Hills)

Danielle Rodin

Chatsworth

4.347

USC

CRESPI CARMELITE HIGH SCHOOL

(Encino)

Joshua Nelson

Van Nuys

4.351

University of Notre Dame

DESERT CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

(Lancaster)

Kari Jones

Palmdale

4.0

Taylor University

Sarah Kleven

Lancaster

4.0

Antelope Valley College

FIRST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL

(Sylmar)

Krista Stark

Sylmar

4.0

Pepperdine University

HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL

(North Hollywood)

Kim-Xuan Nguyen

Los Angeles

4.53

Williams College

HOLY FAMILY HIGH SCHOOL

(Glendale)

Christina Tolentino

Los Angeles

3.75

Glendale Community College

HOLY MARTYRS FERRAHIAN ARMENIAN HIGH SCHOOL

(Encino)

Emineh Khachian

Van Nuys

4.205

UCLA

LOS ANGELES BAPTIST HIGH SCHOOL

(North Hills)

Nicole Smith

North Hills

3.963

UCLA

LOS ANGELES LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL

(Sylmar)

Angelina Galbo

Sunland

4.0

Valparaiso University

MONTCLAIR COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL

(Van Nuys)

Elizabeth Marcus

North Hills

4.4

Stanford University

Matthew Penny

Northridge

4.4

Emory University

NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL

(Sherman Oaks)

Laura Duncan

Sherman Oaks

4.265

Brown University

Heather Wozniak

North Hollywood

4.25

UCLA

PARACLETE HIGH SCHOOL

(Lancaster)

Josephine Bernabe

Lancaster

4.13

Stanford University

Alyson Martin

Palmdale

4.13

Lawrence University

PRINCETON COLLEGE PREPARATORY HIGH SCHOOL

(North Hollywood)

Kim

North Hollywood

4.0

UCLA

PROVIDENCE HIGH SCHOOL

(Burbank)

Beth Trinchero

Burbank

4.7

UCLA

ST. GENEVIEVE HIGH SCHOOL

(Panorama City)

James Vitale

Panorama City

4.52

Loyola Marymount University

SANTA CLARITA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

(Canyon Country)

Jeremy O’Conner

Canyon Country

3.57

College of the Canyons

Kristy Vonada

Valencia

3.83

Traveling in Europe

STONERIDGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL

(Tarzana)

Leigh Lustig

Granada Hills

4.0

Mission College

VALLEY TORAH HIGH SCHOOL

(North Hollywood)

Michael Berger

Beverly Hills

4.6

Princeton University

Felicia Schor

Los Angeles

4.5

Harvard University

VIEWPOINT SCHOOL

(Calabasas)

Bradley Kane

West Hills

3.89

Stanford University

VILLAGE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

(Sun Valley)

Jeff Punyasavatsut

Sun Valley

4.23

UC Irvine

WEST VALLEY CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

(West Hills)

Ethan Burlingame

Reseda

3.6

Pierce College

--Compiled by Maggie Barnett, David E. Brady, Sylvia Latham and Stephanie Stassel