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2016 Grad Salute
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Haidar, Elness take top slots at CHS
• Stephanie Haidar is Ceres High School ’s valedictorian, Sydney Elness is salutatorian B y JEFF BENZ I GER
T
Editor of the
Ceres (Calif.) Courier
HE DEATH OF HER YOUNGER SISTER profoundly changed the life of Stephanie Haidar, the valedictorian for the Ceres High School class of 2016. Watching Grace go through a life-ending Prolidase deficiency autoimmune disease gave Stephanie reason to make the most of her life. Remembering the medical struggle that ended Grace’s life at age seven has also inspired her to strive to become a geneticist. “That really inspired me to go into the medical field,” said Stephanie, who is also considering rheumatology, the study of rheumatism, arthritis and other disorders of the joints, muscles and ligaments. “I want to lean more towards researching rather than practicing.” Teaching is another interest for Stephanie since she enjoyed tutoring some students in math through high school. “Just that interaction I find really special.” A small margin of difference in grade point averages separates Haidar’s 4.31 and the 4.286 earned by salutatorian Sydney Elness. The 18-year-old women came down to the final weeks of their senior year at Ceres High School before they knew who would occupy which title of top students of the class of 371. “We knew (we were the top students) but we just weren’t sure who would get what because of GPAs were pretty close,” said Stephanie who had her eye on being the class valedictorian since she was a freshman. According to Principal Linda Stubbs, the top four competitors in the class were all within tenths of points of one another. Other seniors who earned a GPA of 4.0 or above were Arianne Amparo-Partida, Alexis Arias, Jalani Blankenship, Maria Ferrera, Kailee Fox, Stephanie Garcia, Saray Gonzalez, Chelsea Heras, Makayla Lawrence, Charles Lo, Jacqueline Lujan, Harjot Mangat, David Montufar, Jagjit Pabla and Amritpal Singh. Stephanie remembers struggling in the fourth grade at Virginia Parks Elementary School because of her sister’s illness and the focus on family issues. “The next year I tried to focus on myself and it was one reason to make my family proud because it was so much that we had been going through,” said Stephanie. “So just to make
them proud I started to work hard and that drove me all the way through junior high and high school.” She also had role models in her parents, David and Lena Haidar, who came to the United States from Iraq with their respective families to pursue a better life. “He’s always been that person that, no matter what it takes, he’ll always get it,” said Haidar. “That’s actually how my mom is too.
‘...we just weren’t sure who would get what because of GPAs were pretty close’
–Valedictorian Stephanie Haidar
They’re both really serious and I think that also comes from their family and where they’re from. I mean, Iraq is fun but at the same time it’s always been dangerous so you kind of have to stay on top of your toes there. It’s also a different society, like their women can’t do certain things compared to here where you almost have the same equality as men. That really drove my mom over here.” Elness said she wasn’t as driven to become a valedictorian but she did chose to strive for all A’s “for myself.” Sydney’s parents, (former Ceres police officer) Bryon and Melissa Elness, started her education out at Summit Charter prep school and then she attended Vanguard College Preparatory Academy in Empire where she was “constantly challenged.” She considers herself a self-driven person but remembers slacking off after she transferred to Mae Hensley Junior High and
then graduating into Ceres High. “It was just so easy for me, especially like freshman and sophomore year, just because they had pushed us so hard,” said Elness. “It didn’t happen until my junior year that I had to actually start studying, like I had to teach myself how to start study in AP classes. But I think it was that strong foundation that Summit and Vanguard that helped me.” Stephanie opted for Ceres schools because she didn’t like wearing a school uniform at Vanguard, and because Ceres offered sports unlike the college prep school and AP classes. “I wanted a real authentic high experience and that’s why I transferred to Mae Hensley so I could go to Ceres High School.” Stephanie enjoyed math and science classes while at CHS and recently started enjoying English, mostly because Mr. SEE VAL & SAL, PAGE 15
JEFF BENZIGER/the Courier
Ceres High School class valedictorian Stephanie Haidar, 18, and class salutatorian Sydney Elness will miss life on the Ceres High School campus but believe better experiences await them at college. Both will speak at graduation on Friday.