Juliann French

Johnny Serna Horizon High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I’m an active member of the National Honor Society, La Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica with a seal of biliteracy in Spanish, Student Government and held the o ce of Vice President my Junior Year, LINK leader and commissioner, helper in the Uni ed Club and our mascot Huey the Hawk for four years. I am also a recipient of the Daniels Scholarship. After graduation I plan to attend CU Boulder to major in Leadership and Community Engagement with a double major in Political Science and a minor in Business.

What is the most enduring memory from your high school career?

Horizon High School

What is the most enduring memory from your high school career?

e most enduring memory from my high school career was being a part of all the organizations that I’m in, including the National Honor Society, Math National Honor Society, French National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, Vice President of National Art Honor Society, dance, Knowledge Bowl, and Unied Club. rough all of these organizations, I have been more involved in my community and school. I enjoyed getting to help the special needs kids with sports and getting to know them more, spreading French culture, making the school more colorful and inviting, and spreading Hawk PRIDE. Talk about your role in society going forward. What issues do feel drawn to address post-graduation and how do you plan to do that?

After I graduate I am going to attend Florida Institute of Technology to get a BS in Genomics and Molecular Genetics. I still want to volunteer and be a part of my community, especially when it comes to people with special needs. I want to continue to improve the involvement of the special needs population and keep working with the Adaptive Inclusive Recreation program in Colorado. I hope to nd a similar program in Florida.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

In 20 years I see myself living in Colorado again working as either a cytogenetic technician or genetic counselor. I hope to pursue a side job becoming a para to help special needs students or work with more organizations and schools to fund high school Uni ed clubs and other inclusive programs. Additionally, I hope to still be involved in the dance community in some way either by helping teach classes or taking classes myself.

I have a lot of good memories from high school, but my favorite memory has to be being our mascot Huey the Hawk for four years. rough that experience, I was able to make so many new connections and ways to bring about school spirit. I thought it was really cool that I was able to rally a whole crowd of people without saying a single word.

Talk about your role in society going forward. What issues do feel drawn to address post-graduation and how do you plan to do that?

Going forward, I plan to work towards bringing communities together for the better and addressing the issues of concern within them, such as playgrounds that are not equipped for those with special needs or streets where speed bumps are needed. I will use the leadership skills that I have gained through High School as well as the opportunities and experience that I will gain in college to accomplish my goal.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

In 20 years I see myself living in Boulder as a successful entrepreneur working towards creating a better society. I also plan to stay involved in both the Daniels and Boulder Alumni Associations and possibly have a position within CU itself.

Cheyenne Trujillo Legacy High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I am in the L2k STEM program which developed my love of STEM–speci cally math and physics. I love reading and helped Legacy win the district Battle of the Books tournament last year. For most of my life, I have played club, high school and beach volleyball while coaching younger players. I play violin in Legacy’s Symphonic Orchestra and was honored as Outstanding Violin in 2022. I am a recipient of the National Hispanic Recognition Award, AP Scholar Award with Distinction, and National Merit Commended Scholar. I will pursue a degree in Computer Engineering at Harvey Mudd College.

What is the most enduring memory from your high school career?

I will never forget playing on the Legacy varsity volleyball team my senior year with 10 other driven and fun seniors. We had an amazing winning season with record crowd sizes, especially when we came from behind to beat our cross-town rivals for the rst time in 15 years. is was an initial goal we set, and our win signi ed how much our mental and physical game grew. We made our last season the best, and I am so lucky to have been a part of the incredible community built over the last four years.

Talk about your role in society going forward. What issues do feel drawn to address post-graduation and how do you plan to do that?

Being a Latina in STEM, I seek to improve my professional environment. Having similar people in the driver’s seat of innovation leads to narrow solutions incompatible with broad populations. Although a complicated issue, I believe that making STEM careers seem more society. appealing and feasible to all demographics will increase representation. e odds can be stacked against minority students with a lack of tools or discouragement by stereotypes. I hope to show underrepresented kids that their capabilities are limitless no matter what they have been told, so I will continue active mentorship with school/local organizations as a direct way to contribute.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

After eight weeks of a summer engineering internship at FormFactor in Boulder, I worked on a cryostat, learned SolidWorks CAD software and the basics of programming. I enjoyed working on both the hardware and software, especially seeing how they work together to produce an outcome. is encouraged me to pursue Computer Engineering because I want to get involved on both sides of quantum computing (an interest I have had since 15!) in order to help make it a revolutionizing reality. It’s an exciting new frontier, and I see myself pushing this technology forward in real-life application and impact!