San Diego Community Newspaper Group
www.SDNEWS.com Volume 15, Number 40
THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010
Hats off to the Class of 2010 LJHS valedictorian destined for Yale BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS The future is all about expanding new horizons for La Jolla High School valedictorian Tiffany Fan, who will collect a diploma along with with 341 of her peers at the campus’s June 21 graduation ceremony. “I don’t know whether I’ve left a mark or not,” said Fan, who earned a 4.8 grade point average. “But I really appreciated having this high school experience with so many opportunities and extraordinary people. I feel really lucky.”
“Each year has been better than the last.” TIFFANY FAN LJHS Valedictorian Fan will swap coasts to attend Yale University this fall, where she plans to study political science. An internship at the United Nations Association of San Diego in Balboa Park last summer inspired that decision, she said. “It really opened my eyes to what goes on around the world,” Fan said. Women’s rights currently tops Fan’s list of interests, and she hopes her college experience can help her make a difference in that field. “We learned about areas in Africa and the
La Jolla High School valedictorian Tiffany Fan, who earned a 4.8 grade point average, will lead her class of graduates at the June 21 commenceDON BALCH | Village News ment ceremonies.
Middle East and other areas where women’s rights are not a big part of government or everyday life,” Fan said of her internship. “As a woman, I want to continue that journey.” One woman who has influenced Fan immensely, she said, is her mother. “She’s always told me that everything in life is 10 percent talent and 90 percent effort,” Fan said. “You’ve got to maximize that 90 percent.” Fan added that her younger sister, KathSEE LJHS, Page 2
Fourth of July fireworks at La Jolla Cove cost about $1,000 per minute and the display draws about 20,000 DON BALCH | Village News spectators.
LJHS GRADUATION • June 21, 2 p.m., LJHS Edwards Field • Number of graduates: 342 • Number of graduates receiving academic distinction (3.5 GPA or higher): 196 • Valedictorian: Tiffany Fan • Salutatorian: Katharine Cary • Speakers: John de Beck, school board member • Performances: Madrigals choir and school band • 15 graduates in the top 10 percent of the class will receive gold tassels from the alumni association • 86 percent of graduates continue to four-year universities
UCHS valedictorian upholds academic legacy UCHS GRADUATION
BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS Continuing a legacy that began with his older brother in 2004, Prabhanjan Didwania will address his peers as valedictorian of University City High School’s (UCHS) class of 2010 at a June 18 commencement ceremony. Didwania, who will graduate with a 4.74 grade-point average, had his eyes on the prize from the beginning. “I always wanted to become valedictorian because of my brother,” he said. “It was a lot of hard work, but in the end it paid off.” Didwania’s brother, Maruti, is now 24 and working on his Ph.D. at Stanford University. In the fall, Didwania will attend Duke University as a biomedical engineering major with a certificate degree in either global health or economics, he said. Science emerged as Didwania’s passion early on, and by his junior year he had completed every advanced placement science course offered in the UCHS curriculum —
• June 18, 2 p.m. • Centurion Stadium • Number of graduates: 416 • Number of graduates receiving academic distinction: 125 • Valedictorian: Prabhanjan Didwania • Salutatorians: Yongjian Si, Christy Chao, Alexis Lasker UCHS valedictorian Prabhanjan Didwania leaves behind an excellent high school career. PAUL HANSEN | Village News
including chemistry, biology, physics, environmental science and computer science. Outside of class, he worked in a hypertension research lab at the University of California, San Diego Department of Medicine, publishing an international research paper that
• 50 percent of graduates will enroll in universities or private colleges, and 40 percent will attend community college was presented in Melbourne, Australia. These experiences helped influence what he hopes to accomplish in the future, Didwania said. “I want to see a more peaceful world,” he
Fireworks for the 4th Fundraising continues despite lawsuit threat BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS An American tradition may be in peril, as the La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation (LJCFF) seeks donations for its 25th annual Fourth of July display at La Jolla Cove despite a letter from an environmental group warning that the show could result in a lawsuit. The Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF) threatened to sue LJCFF in addition to organizers of the Big Bay Boom Show and the Del Mar display, arguing that the La Jolla show, specifically, violates the California Water Quality Control Plan for Ocean Waters of California, the Coastal Act and the Clean Water Act. The group also claimed that discharging any foreign materials into ocean water near shores is against the law. The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board is examining the results of a four-year study conducted by SeaWorld on how fireworks affect water quality, in order to draft permit language that would regulate all coastal fireworks displays in the region. The draft should be available in early 2011. Meanwhile, the board has indicated it will not seek enforcement against producers of fireworks shows, provided the displays are conducted safely and with responsible management and trash control. Deborah Marengo of LJCFF said that the group does not believe the litigation is likely to proceed. “From our understanding, we will be issued the same permits by the city of San Diego and we meet the guidelines in the same way that we have for the last 25 years,” Marengo said. “As long as we have community support and people continue to donate, the show will go on.”
SEE UCHS, Page 2 SEE FIREWORKS, Page 2