Meet six members of the class of 2006

High school seniors have met different challenges and succeeded in different areas

June 12, 2006

By BONNIE ALLEN
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER

"Find a passion and work hard to achieve it." "Allow time for fun." "Hang on to your friends." These are the recurring themes among this year's featured high school graduates. But like any other six high school seniors, they are different in as many ways as they are alike. Together, they do Petaluma proud.

Emily Lundquist, Casa Grande High School

"One of the accomplishments I'm most proud of is my achievement in basketball," says Emily Lundquist.

"It means a lot when you achieve something with people you've grown up with and that you've gone through successes and ordeals with," she said.

This year the team, many of whose members have played together since the fourth grade, made it into the first round NCS game after a surprise come-from-behind second in the Sonoma County League.

Lundquist was co-captain of the team and was named defensive player of the year, capping a four-year record of basketball awards.

Plenty of laurels to rest on, you might say. But for Lindquist, it's only part of the story. She placed in five events at the Academic Decathlon's county level: art, economics, language and literature and math, crowning her achievement with a Silver in essay writing. True to Casa Grande tradition, her team went on to win the state competition.

It was only in passing that Lundquist lets slip that she is also this year's valedictorian and a staff writer for the Gaucho Gazette, the school's student newspaper.

She earned her reputation for being "independent and strong-willed" early on. "When I was 3, my parents tried to help me learn how to tie my shoes. But I wouldn't let anybody help me; I figured out how to do it myself," she said.

With the help of numerous scholarships, Lundquist plans to major in English at UCLA, but is open to change. She's interested in screenwriting, journalism and architecture.

High school has taught her to "be flexible, be open to new experiences, but cherish the people you know."

Melanie Jackson, San Antonio High

Melanie Jackson graduated from San Antonio with more scholarships than there is space to list here. And she did it while raising two children, the oldest of whom is now 3.

While deftly and expertly managing her lively offspring, she tells of her plans to get an associate degree in criminal justice from Santa Rosa Junior College.

It wasn't always this way. When Jackson found herself the sole support of her family, she was forced to quit school and get a job. Then she connected with a teen parent worker who introduced her to a program to pay her living expenses so she could go back to school.

"There are a lot of programs to help you -- like Cal-Learn," she says. "They pay you to go to school and give you bonuses for good grades."

She has proved the program's value, getting good grades and passing the high school exit exam, plus earning a $500 bonus for graduating. Another program, Cal-Works, will help her with college expenses.

The future holds many possibilities. "There are many things you can do with an AA. So many options and everything sounds so interesting," she said. She is looking into becoming an advocate for victims of rape or domestic violence.

And she is ambitious for her children. Although child care is available at San Antonio, it is really geared to the very young. Her children, Maria and Michael, attend a bilingual preschool in Rohnert Park so they can learn both Spanish and English.

Thanks to a combination of her own hard work and an effective support system, the future looks bright for Jackson and her children.

Trevor Hoffmann, Petaluma High

Trevor Hoffmann takes writing seriously. So much so that he carries a digital voice recorder to record thoughts he may have while out of reach of his laptop or his handwritten journal.

Recruited last year to help revive the Petaluma High literary magazine, he formed a literary club and came up with a name -- "Inkslinger" -- drawn from an earlier incarnation of the magazine.

Born into a family of voracious readers, Hoffmann early on found himself more at home with the printed word than with his peers. His response was to withdraw further, but by the time high school came along, he realized he wanted more social contact.

"I had to find the common ground between where I was -- bookworm, academic -- and other people," he said.

To accomplish that, he turned to the theater.

Fresh from a Marin performance of "The Music Man," in which he played a supporting role and helped coach younger actors for Broadway Bound Kids, Hoffmann has numerous roles with the Cinnabar Theater and Broadway Bound Kids under his belt.

The theater gave him a chance to form the kind of intense ties he sought with a group of his peers. The literary magazine was yet another way to make connections with a whole new group.

"We met for coffee, talked a lot, did social activities together," he said.

Along the way, his parents urged him to stick with gymnastics for seven years, and he was able to win a USA Gymnastics All-American Award and earn a paid job as a gymnastics coach. He has been nominated for a Press Democratic youth service award.

Hoffmann is headed for the University of California, Davis, where he will major in English, write and perhaps do some theater. His ideal future includes teaching college English, writing screenplays and acting.

"Find out what you really want to do," he advised students. "Establish a passion, and follow it. Don't forsake friendship."

John Paul Norris, Tomales High School

"Music is my whole life," said John Paul Norris. With a mother who teaches piano and a father who is both musician and instrument maker, he performed his first public piano recital at the age of 4.

Then his older sister -- also a music teacher -- taught him to play the violin, while his older brother taught him college level jazz theory.

"I was very young and most of it went over my head," he said with a laugh, "but it was soon after that I started applying those things. I take all my jazz studies as a hub for everything else that I do."

As a child, Norris played violin with the Green Farm Discovery Orchestra. In junior high he took up drums before finally settling on the bass, both electric and stand-up acoustic.

With the Tomales High Jazz Band, Norris has traveled to California Association for Music Education jazz festivals all over the Bay Area, and this year earned a superior command performance in solo performance.

Being backed by professional musicians was an unforgettable experience. "They're such amazing jazz musicians, they can almost anticipate what you're going to do," he said.

His current project is Feral Kid, an "alternative reggae band" composed of young musicians Norris grew up with. The band will appear at the Verge Showdown in San Rafael on June 17.

Norris plans to go to Sonoma State and study with jazz department professor and bassist Mel Graves. He hopes to put his musical background to work during college by giving lessons at his sister's soon-to-be-opened music store, Music to My Ears. As for the future? "I really like to be on stage," he said.

Life lessons he's learned? "Whatever you do, do it with determination. Music gets so redundant, but you have to practice every day. As long as you have determination, you will succeed," he said.

Jonathan Atkinson, St. Vincent High School

Jonathan Atkinson says his life changed forever when he learned a fast-paced, rigorous style of debate called "evidence-based debate," which requires every statement to be backed up by written evidence, often culled on the spot from pre-written research cards as the opponent is talking.

In preparing for these debates, Atkinson says he learned "an incredible amount about U.S. foreign policy."

"It's influenced my world view. It helps me really focus myself," added Atkinson, who is thinking of majoring in rhetoric -- the art of speaking or writing effectively -- when he attends University of California, Berkeley in the fall. A parallel interest in linguistics has caused him to study the use of language and politics in the writings of Noam Chomsky and George Orwell. He edits a school newspaper, Dialogue, devoted to language and its uses.

Atkinson seeks to balance the intellectual nature of his academic interests with artistic and physical challenges -- what he calls the "messiness" of the real world. "That's why I'm interested in drama and art and running," he said.

His introduction to drama was "the overwhelming passion of Macbeth," in an eighth-grade drama production. He has taken film classes in the summer and plays in The Music Club, a school-sponsored band that has performed at St. Vincent's, Casa Grande and the Phoenix Theater.

Atkinson applies the same drive to athletics as to his other pursuits. He's received Most Valuable Player awards both years in track and two of his four years in cross country.

A self-described activist, he helped start the campus group, Teens Against Discrimination, and plans to start a student chapter of Amnesty International.

Asked what he'd like to be doing in 10 years, Atkinson hopes to follow Kurt Vonnegut's advice to "always write poems and make art, even if it's the worst in the world," no matter what calling he pursues.

"I want to always be making music, writing, trying new media that I don't know," he said.

He enumerates other life roles he finds appealing: rock star, paramedic, teacher organic farmer.

Life lessons? Pay attention to the world and try to understand it. Also know that it's good to laugh and have a wonderful time. The balance is tough, but "if you pay attention, it will be all right."

Lia Eliades, home schooled

The first things you notice about Lia Eliades are her poise and tranquility.

Home-schooled at the rural family home off Adobe Road since the eighth grade, Eliades credits her parents and church for her achievements. Both parents have advanced degrees and are "always involved with kids." Church provides the social connections and community support that other students might find in school.

Eliades and her two younger brothers benefit from curricula designed for home-schooling, as well as the knowledge her parents bring to the process. A trip to Europe included study materials and offered some on-the-spot learning.

For the last two years, she has taken online courses through Northwestern University and the Stanford Educational Program for Gifted Youth.

A National Merit Scholar finalist who was offered a full scholarship to Arizona State University, Eliades, who will turn 17 in August, chose UC Berkeley. She wants to get a feel for her interests before settling on a major.

"My dad says, 'You're there to get an education; look around, '" she said.

Eliades raises cats and chickens and likes taking walks in nature and thinking. She likes to write, and has participated in oratorical competitions through her church, competing at the national level. It's helped her learn how to develop a topic and speak in front of people. As for formal athletics, "I've always said, my sport is book lifting and page turning."

Eliades feels blessed by her circumstances and upbringing. But she regrets the "cut-throat atmosphere of today's educational climate."

"You can really lose sight of the big picture, which is 'I'm here to learn and explore things.' It's supposed to be a fun time," she said.

"Study hard," she advised, "but don't kill yourself."

(Contact Bonnie Allen at argus@arguscourier.com)