THE BOARD OF EDUCATION honored the many accomplishments of GGUSD’s Class of 2018 valedictorians at its May 15 meeting (GGUSD photo).

Valedictorians and salutatorians for the Class of 2018 for the Garden Grove Unified School District have been named and will be graduated on June 14 and 15.

The 26 students who have earned the prestigious honor are highly accomplished and well-rounded scholars who exemplify the Garden Grove Way and are well-equipped for lifelong success.

Pacifica High School’s Jerlene Hsueh is a National Merit Scholar, a recognition earned by less than 1 percent of students nationwide. Garden Grove High School’s Scott Belair, who will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), took 20 Advanced Placement exams even though he was not able to take the courses for many of them.  Hare High School’s Amy Salazar, a mother of two, stayed the course and emerged as a campus leader. La Quinta High School’s Christopher Mai earned a 4.62 GPA while receiving perfect scores on the math and essay portions of the SAT, receiving a 1580 overall score.

Bolsa’s Long Ho will attend Princeton University in the fall to major in computer science and Garden Grove High School’s Cathy Duong will major in English at Yale beginning a pre-med track with the hopes of becoming a geneticist. The Class of 2018 valedictorians will attend universities across the state and country, including University of California Los Angeles, UC Irvine, UC Berkley, UC San Diego, Princeton, Yale, MIT, and Wellesley College, among others.

Many of the valedictorians and salutatorians participated in athletics, music, and were active in their high school clubs, including Rancho Alamitos’ Vivian Chau who played varsity tennis for three years and three-sport athlete Evelyn Bella from Los Amigos, who played volleyball, water polo and was a member of the swim team.  Santiago’s Donny Pham wrote a grant to fund and establish an edible garden at his school.  To read more about the accomplishments of GGUSD valedictorians and salutatorians, visit www.ggusd.us.