The hard work has paid off for Riverbank High School Valedictorian Lydia Hodges and Co-Salutatorians Samuel Endsley and Edgar Garcia. These three seniors have worked very hard to maintain a dominant grade point average and have each received awards for their efforts throughout their senior year at Riverbank High School and represent the class of 2017 with pride.
Valedictorian Lydia Hodges has been taking two college classes, calculus and calculus-based physics at Merced College, which she expressed “has been a lot of fun.”
Her senior year has also been about making new relationships with students and getting closer to her teachers. One of her favorite classes at RHS has been video game design. After high school Hodges plans to attend Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering where she will be majoring in some type of engineering in the medical field. She expressed that the honor of being the class of 2017 Valedictorian gives her the validation that all her hard work paid off.
To her fellow classmates she gives a few words of wisdom, “don’t procrastinate and don’t give up even when you do procrastinate, because procrastinating makes things really hard to stay on top of your grades.”
“The year has been very fun but it is kind of sad that it is coming to an end,” added Endsley. “My senior year has always been a challenge because I have self-confidence issues. That is something that I will have to overcome but for the most part my senior year has been enjoyable.”
Endsley plans to attend Stanislaus State and major in History. He plans to become a high school history teacher. His favorite subject at RHS this year was AP Economics.
To the students that will continue their high school career, Endsley said, “Always work hard. Never give up and the only thing that gets in your way is yourself so just keep going forward no matter what.”
Having an amazing but yet a roller coaster year, Garcia has been through some ups and downs throughout his high school career. A standout moment that he shared was being in the section finals with the soccer team.
“I have been in varsity for four years,” stated Garcia. “Section finals was very emotional because this is my senior year.”
Garcia plans to attend UC Stanislaus with a major in Kinesiology and eventually would like to become a physical therapist. He would also like to play for the soccer team as well.
“My favorite subject was math because there is always a right answer and I like problem solving and finding the right answer makes me feel good,” said Garcia. “The thing I will miss the most is the teachers. They are very warm, welcoming, loving, supportive and caring.”
With a few words of wisdom to his fellow classmates, Garcia reminds them to work hard and to strive for greater things in life.
Riverbank High School’s 2017 graduation exercises are scheduled for Friday, May 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Ray Fauria Gymnasium.
Other graduation and promotion ceremonies are set for this week on multiple Riverbank campuses. Cardozo Middle School promotion is Wednesday, May 24 at 7 p.m.; Riverbank Language Academy promotion is Thursday, May 25 at 6 p.m.; Adelante High School graduation is Thursday, May 25, at 6:30 p.m. at the Ray Fauria Memorial Gymnasium.
