Graduation 2021

2 Class of 2021 heads off to new adventures The Olympian Graduation 2021

Alameda College Ian Hurtado Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Gabriel Barona Azusa Pacific University Tiana Kessee-Johnson Berkeley City College Banoo Afkhami, Daniel Del Grande, Mingman Ma, Lola Reed, Caroline Siem, Isabel Walth

Ryan Jager, John Maher, Christopher Martinez, Cesiah Miramontes, Henry Nguyen, Muzgan Seckandary CSU Fresno Simon Yohannes CSU Fullerton Vanessa Lau, Ula Sin CSU Humboldt Amy Baggott, Josefina de la Torre, Brayden Praest, Elliott Seyranian

Zheng Dominican University of California Felicia Yee, Nicole Tran École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) Angela Tortora Foothill College Shaelyn Mosbaugh, Julia Vanderpan

New York University Brittany Bin Northern Arizona University Lexi Rardin Ohlone College Cavyn McDonald Pepperdine Tobias Taylor

Fordham University Isis Poulose

Point Loma Nazarene University Madison Redmond

George Fox University Paul Friesen

San Joaquin Delta Jada Romero

CSU Los Angeles Itzel Jauregui

Grand Canyon University Jennifer Connors

Santa Barbara City College Cole Kosciusko, Mica Arre

Chabot College Sofia Alonso, Ariana Anton Boggiano, Keean Antonio, Jason Boakye, Nicholas Brown, Olivia Campos, Josiah Carmona, Victoria Ceaser, Sierra Chandler, Nico Cheatham, Dora Chen, Alex Cheng, Grace Cheng, Kyle Collopy, Kiara Corley, John Davidson, Nick Doggett, Andrew Fong, Kealani Freund-Davis, Jane Garcia, Jacob Gates, Becca Gault, Christian Green, Maiden Hanna, Katharine Horne, Toxtli Huitzilopochtli, Matthew Jewell, Jesse Josslin, Derrick Ko, Haylie LaBang, Sabrina Lim, Jennifer Lopez, Tiger Lu, Citlalli Marmolejo, Frida Martinez, Natalie Masilang, Izzy McGrogan, Avery McReynolds, Tyler Morgan, Kareem Munn, Ethan Ngo, Parwana Noor, Jacob Nymann, Cecilia OrozcoSanchez, Adrianna Pena, Chris Phung, Michelle Pluth, Asmita Pokhrel, Dillon Roach, Alondra Rodriguez, Mina Sami, Zaid Sayage, Ashley Seto, Jaylee Shin, Malik Shumpert, Kaleb Thomas, Charlize Tran, Jenelle Vallortigara, Karisa Vallortigara, Ricardo Virgen, Kenneth Voong, Izabella Wahbeh, Maleah WalkerButcher, Jonathan Walthour, Tiffany Wong, Jada Wright, Adam Wu, Sofia Yancor, Darren Yong, Nathan Zheng

CSU Monterey Bay William Baggott, Megan Botz, Lindsay Brown, Giovanni Castaneda, Tavis Joe, Quentin Mognaga

Holy Names University Kacee Mealer

Slippery Rock University Daniel Alexander

Johns Hopkins University Jennifer Tang

Spelman College Kalina Francois

Chaminade University Marissa Alejo

CSU San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) Sonia Andrade, Andrew Cheung, Melanie Huang, Jia Jiang, Aiden Kelly, Alex Lung, Bradley Maruoka

Brigham Young University Zach Perry California College of the Arts Jasmine Law

City College of San Francisco Meara (Mac) Hughes

CSU Long Beach Pokman Ryan Cheng, Emma Kennedy

CSU San Diego Austin Coffelt, Matthew Derbyshire, Jonah Dionisio, Jia Liu, Devan Pak CSU San Francisco Carolina Abdaka, Camille Camoro, Karla Castellanos, Avril Castillo, Aisha Gilbert, Jessica Hernandez, Joshua Levano, Liam Mendez, Bryan Nguyen, Kyle Sein CSU San Jose Grace Austin, Vince Chen, Jeffrey Chuong, Jia Du, Colby Fong, Adam Kleinschmidt, Iris Lee, Kody Lee, Kai Lodge, The Phan, Dominic, Sequeira, Jacqueline Wu, Derry Yu, Brandon Zhu

CSU East Bay Adrian Balasin, Eric Huang,

Temple University - Japan Campus Kimi Morales Bito Laney College Katie Hoang

Texas Christian University Delaney Vaughn

Las Positas College Rebecca Alvarado, Sugeile Benavidez, Maddy Curtis, Colby Bettis, Alyssa Henderson, Sarah Kang, Camdyn Lai, Samuel Leonetti, Haley Matthews, Gaby Pinto, Luke Ross, Sylvia Ross, Angelina Salinas, Ashley Sand, Gabriella Sanguinetti, Dylan Seu, Weedah Sharifi, Ryan Shea, Jordan Turco, Aiden Vik, Emilie Vonderheid, Giselle Zendejas

The George Washington University Hannah Pilgrim

Los Angeles College of Music Aidan Aguilar Meiji Gakuin University Hanna Osako

University of California, Berkeley Alexis Alburo, Aparna Anandkumar, Leah Biruk, Ashley Fang, Tiffany Ho, Alina Huang, Malin Johansson, Aakriti Kaul, Junling Lin, Patrick Mishreky, Shelby Nguyen, Nadine Ratinho, Connie Shen, Sophia Siopack, Alexandra Tam, Jacqueline Thibault, Jolie Tran, Genice Wong, Christine Xu, Emily K. Xu, Bryan Yim

Menlo College Ajayzee Zaballos

Military - Army Alexander Brannon Military - Marines Daniel Anilao CSU Sonoma Janice Biggs, Haley Irby, Hanna Malkina Diablo Valley College Naveed Akbarpour, Giselle Gutierrez, Kristina Huajardo, Marina Limnios, Timothy Liu, Quincy Thai, Ashley Thung, Christopher Wangsanata, Skylar Wong, Gyana Wright, Xiaojun

Military - Navy Jake Pereur, William Yee Modesto Junior College Arvin Ontiveros Moler Cosmetology College Selena Galvan Monterey Valley Lumumba Loggins

University of California, Los Angeles Megan Chen, Samuel Lu, Amy McGowan, Sasha Padilla, Aaron Ruiz University of California, Merced Mark Abdalla, Shilang Jiang, Lindsey Suarez, Abraham Villalpando University of California, Riverside Alan Le, Karina Murugesu University of California, San Diego Jasmine Amezcua, Miles Bennett, Sydney Kundert, Garvey Li, Rafi Overton, Kadie Qi, Emily Wan University of California, Santa Barbara Immanuel Bareket, Julia Chan, Valerie Chan, Isabel Duenas, Rowan King, Adam Tatarkhanov University of California, Santa Cruz Sedona Berg, Emily Cochrane, Renee Guillaume, Eden Hughes, Shayla Khan, Brandon Ng, Eric Phuong, Shaurya Puri, James Schlatter, Makayla Thai University of Arizona Bella Victoria Henderson University of Georgia Beata Tewell University of Hawaii Mānoa Cassandra Maciel, Olivia Warren University of Nevada Reno Griffin Keenan University of New Mexico Alexander deJesus University of North Carolina Charlotte Sage Galordi University of Oregon Madisen Meli, Caroline LeVans University of Pennsylvania Anna Bay, Deyi (Oliver) Zhang University of San Francisco Christian Decano

Military - Air Force Nicolas Contreras

Colorado State University Gianna Leogrande

CSU Channel Islands Madeline Leipold

Temple University Benjamin Chen

Messiah University Tessa Spinosa

College of Alameda Douglas Goodwin, Izabel Ariana Martinez

Concordia University Irvine Joey Molettieri

Syracuse University Sally Jewel

CSU Sacramento Noah Carter, Czarina Powell, Cassie Vaughn, Maximus Zamora

Cogswell Polytechnical College Chloe Platz

Colorado State Universtity - Fort Collins Ian Willits

St Mary’s College of California Emily Yu

CSU Pomona (Cal Poly) Kristen Chan, Eon Dai, Traci Hinshaw, Benjamin HsiaoFrates, Vincent Siu, Mylie Vuong, Alisha Zen

University of California, Irvine Kele Fong, Devin Hahn, Claire Lin, Evan Okui, Kayla Pereira, Kausar Raniwala, Penelope Wong

University of California, Davis Miles Bardin, Rasberry Carpenter, Kahee Chan, Michael Chu, Kelly Dang, Ines Fehimovic, Christian Nicole Garcia, Ivan Garcia-Lopez, Lindsey Gard, Matthew Gee, Beckman Hart, Alexandria Ikuma, Nicholas Kwan, Sebastian Lam, Lauren Leong, Tiffany Leung, Joshua Lew, Gabrielle Lewis, James Mau, Megan Nguyen, Vivian Nguyen, Matthew Niiya, Paulina Peltola, Elijah Rogge, Alice Tang, Jeffrey Wang, Joshua Williamson, Emily Xu

University of Southern California Miguel Bernas, Ting Hei Hong, Ryan Huey, Edwin Liao University of Tennessee Knoxville Jayliana Nirschl University of the Pacific Shirley Tan, Pauline Wallace UTI Sacramento Ramon Cabrera University of Virginia Aliza Diop List of College Destinations is incomplete

3 Seniors share favorite high school memories The Olympian Graduation 2021

By Paulina Peltola

As the school year nears the end, the class of 2021 is getting ready for graduation.

The seniors have been through so much these past four years, although they had to spend final year in quarantine due the pandemic. Despite this, the seniors have prevailed and created unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships that they will always cherish.

When asked what his favorite part of highschool was, senior Xavier Wilmott said “My favorite thing about high school was making life time friends.

Friends that I will always have and never leave behind.”

Other than making friends, the seniors enjoyed their overall high school experience and appreciated the little things.

“My favorite memory was just hanging out and talking at lunch with my friends,” said senior Malin Johansson.

Senior Adora Vaz said that some of her best memories in high school were made “in classes with friends and having a good time while struggling and figuring out stuff together.”

Getting to be in the classroom and seeing teachers and classmates in person is something that many seniors miss and remember fondly.

Paulina Peltola

“I really liked playing trash ball with Ms. Garcia,” said Johansson.

Senior Callum Standish said one of his favorite memories was “shooting the breeze with

Mr. Wahner.”

When asked about their favorite event of high school, the

seniors’ all had one especially memorable moment in mind.

“My favorite high school event would be the 2019 homecoming football game,” said senior Isabel Dueñas. “My friends and I brought colored powder and we distributed it among the Trojan Den. It was very exhilarating to be among people so united and spirited while cheering on our football team. Winning and rushing the field after the game was a plus.”

Many seniors agreed with this. “I liked the homecoming game junior year a lot. We threw powder up in the air and everyone was overall in a good mood and had a lot of fun,” said senior Francesca Cotroneo.

“My favorite memory was probably our last homecoming game when we won and everyone ran onto the field together,” recalled senior Jasmine Amezcua.

“For me probably the homecoming football game and dance because it was great to hang out with people and have fun,” said senior Rowan King.

Even though the seniors have faced many struggles, including a pandemic, they still remember the highlights of high school which they will never forget, and can look back at their high school experience in a positive light.

Senior shares secerts to high school success

By Malin Johansson I spent the majority of my high school career taking the hardest classes, doing all my homework, and participating in extracurriculars. It was stressful at times, but I also learned much from my classes and meeting great teachers and friends.

Was it worth it? I would say yes, because I gained so many valuable lessons.

Because I worked so hard I have many options and great colleges to choose from. It is exhilarating to find out you’ve been admitted to so many colleges.

Would I recommend this to underclassmen? Maybe, it all depends on how you feel and the path you want to take. Everyone is different so everyone will have different things that work for them. That being said, I have some advice for underclassmen looking to

have a successful and satisfying high school career.

1. Join clubs. Find a club your interested in, and join it! There are so many clubs on campus, there is bound to be one that you’ll like. Clubs are a great way to meet new people of all grade levels. It’s a perfect way to be friends with upperclassmen, and other people with similar interests. A lot of clubs go on field trips, do community service, or fundraisers. These all look really good on college applications, especially if you become an officer. I am co-president of Girls Learn International, and it has given me opportunities I never would have had if I didn’t join.

2. Take classes that interest you. High school is a special place and it goes by so fast, why waste it on classes you don’t like? School will be so much more enjoyable if you take classes that interest you. Even if you’re a highly competitive student and want to take every AP class possible, take the AP classes you think you’ll like. I wish I had taken more art classes, like ceramics and guitar.

3. Don’t stress about having to go to a four-year college right out of high school. There are so many options that people don’t talk about enough, like community college, the military, a gap year, or getting a job. If you want to wait a few

years, don’t worry. You have plenty of time, and you will likely end up with the same degree as a person that went straight to college. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I seriously considered taking a gap year.

4. Celebrate everyone’s successes. There were times where I was jealous of people’s grades on a test, and I became discouraged. I look back at those times and I shake my head. I should’ve been happier for that person! It didn’t make

me any less successful. The next test I would just study more and earn just as good a grade. There’s not only one winner in life.

5. Get to know your teachers.

Teachers are humans just like us (I should know, since my mom is one). If you’re actually nice to your teachers, you’ll learn they have hobbies and interests. Being nice to your teachers creates a happier and overall better work environment. If you win an award, or just something

good happens to you, tell your teachers! They will celebrate with you. Teachers do want to talk to you, and they can be a great support system.

These are just a few tips I have for having a great time in high school, but I could give a thousand more. High school is a learning experience and there’s always going to be some good and some bad times. Take what I say with a grain of salt, I am far from a perfect person or student. Good luck in high school!

Meet the super seniors who brought you the news!

Tiffany Ho

Tiffany has had an amazing time being a part of The Olympian for three years as a staff writer, news editor, and now editor-in-chief. She has enjoyed going around her community and interviewing a variety of people such as health care workers and cross country athletes. Outside of the newspaper, she is involved in a variety of clubs and enjoys making art. She is excited to continue her journey at UC Berkeley in the fall.

Miguel Bernas

Miguel has loved his two years writing for The Olympian as a staff writer and feature editor. He has enjoyed featuring the many unique stories of different students and staff members at CVHS. Miguel is also involved in Leadership and has served as sophomore class vice president, junior class vice president, and now senior class president. He is excited to continue his education at the University of Southern California this fall.

Hannah Pilgrim

Hannah had a grand time being part of The Olympian staff for two years, as both a staff writer and page editor. Her favorite assignment was interviewing Castro Valley Supervisor Nate Miley to ask him about pressing issues in the community. Hannah has played varsity tennis for three years and enjoyed every minute of being a Trojan. She will continue her education at George Washington University in Washington D.C. this fall.

Nikita Thomas

Nikita is very grateful to have been part of The Olympian staff for the past three years. She was able to fulfill her passion for writing, as well as be directly involved with the community. Being a journalist allowed her to enhance her interpersonal skills. She still remembers covering an active-shooter drill where she interviewed a renowned detective and captured exciting stills. She will miss her time with The Olympian and all the unforgettable experiences.

Austin Coffelt

Austin has really enjoyed being a part of The Olympian for his senior year. It was a unique challenge for him and it really helped him grow as a writer. He should have listened to his sophomore English teacher, Mr. Dennis, when he told Austin to join The Olympian sooner. Austin hopes to continue his journalism journey at whatever university he decides to go to.

Paulina Peltola

Paulina had an amazing time being part of The Olympian staff during her senior year, but wishes she had joined the class sooner. She enjoyed writing interesting stories on various topics, interviewing people, and learning about journalism. Paulina also played CVHS soccer for four years, three of which she played on varsity. She will be continuing her education at UC Davis this fall. Go Aggies!

Malin Johansson

Malin Johansson has loved being the online editor and a staff writer for The Olympian for the past two years. She has enjoyed covering events such as the Black Lives Matter protests in Castro Valley, meeting new people, and interviewing community members. She is a better writer and more confident interviewer because of her time at The Olympian.

Malin will continue her education at UC Berkeley next year, and might write for a newspaper on campus. Malin would like to thank Mr. J for all his hard work to help make The Olympian amazing.

Jeanette Wallis

Jeanette has been a part of The Olympian staff for the past three years as staff writer, copy editor, and editor-in-chief. She has had a lot of fun writing articles, taking photos, and meeting and interviewing new people. This experience has taught her writing and communication skills, as well as introduced her to an amazing group of journalism students. Jeanette would like to thank Mr. J for his teaching and guidance.

Alex Tam

Alex has tremendously enjoyed the many experiences and opportunities she’s had for the past two years as a staff writer and page editor. Her favorite story to write was an opinion about diversity in children’s media because she got to interview Lilan Bowden, a CVHS alum and Disney channel actor!

Apart from working on The Olympian, Alex played varsity tennis, danced competitively, and was in choir for all four years of high school.

Josie de la Torre

Josie has loved her time writing for The Olympian as a staff writer and business manager for two years. Her favorite story was about her experience at Carmel Beach for an outdoors writing competition.

Being in journalism class enhanced her writing and social skills. Josie is excited to major in journalism at Humboldt State University. She would like to thank Mr. J for his encouragement and guidance on becoming a better writer.

Alice Tang

Alice enjoyed being a part of The Olympian team.

She spent two years learning, writing, and gaining new experiences that she would not have gotten otherwise. This class has put her out of her comfort zone by making her interview staff and students. She realized that interviewing strangers isn’t as bad as she thought it would be and that both the interviewer and interviewee can have fun talking together.

Victoria Ceaser

Victoria cannot imagine senior year without fondly looking back at the memories shared with The Olympian news team. Regretful that she would only spend one year with them, Victoria was always excited to write stories she felt passionate and curious about. Despite the many challenges she faced, the risks taken rewarded Victoria well. She hopes to never stop writing!

Eric Nepveux-Kjelstrom

Eric wrote articles for The Olympian over the past year. Although he joined as a senior, he’s satisfied with the time he had writing for the school newspaper. He got to interview interesting people and design story graphics and was encouraged to stay up to date on current events. He gained a good amount of writing experience and he thinks he’s better off with it. Eric plans on writing more in the future.