Preuss School at UC San Diego
to Hold June 27 Commencement
Ceremony for 97 Graduates

June 19, 2008

By Pat JaCoby

Twelve graduates of the Preuss School at UC San Diego will welcome families and guests in 10 different languages at a 4 p.m. commencement ceremony June 27 on Manchester Field.

Representing the 97 graduates with international greetings will be Aliou Diallo, French; Minh-Thu Tran, Vietnamese; Daniel Robenko, Russian; Hazel Maristela, Tagalog; Ximena Plata, Japanese; Wendy Khem, Cambodian; Habibo Amba, Oromo; Johnny Xaysanapannha, Loatian; Duceani Davila and Erika Chavez, Spanish, and Thatson Nguyen and Alda Migoni, English.

The valedictorian and salutatorian addresses for the Class of 2008 will be given by students who are headed in the fall to three of the country’s most prestigious colleges. Ricardo Vera, valedictorian, will attend Dartmouth, while salutatorian Keary Champi has enrolled at Stanford and salutatorian Dorothy Nguyen will attend Notre Dame.

The pledge of allegiance will be led by Antoinette Brou, Associated Student Body president, who will attend UCLA in the fall. Milana Edwards, senior class president and fall Georgetown University attendee, will lead the tassle ceremony.

Other platform participants include Scott Barton, principal, The Preuss School; Cecil Lytle, chair, The Preuss School Board of Directors; Barbara A. Sawrey, associate vice chancellor for Undergraduate Education, UCSD, and Mitz Lee, Board of Education trustee, San Diego Unified School District.

Twenty-four of the graduates will attend UC campuses, including eight at UC San Diego. Other nationally ranked colleges welcoming Preuss students in the fall are Mills, Beloit, Carleton, Barnard, Cornell, Oberlin, Reed, Haverford and Harvard.

The Preuss School is a college preparatory school jointly chartered by UC San Diego and the San Diego Unified School District. It uses an intensive college preparatory curriculum to educate low-income students who would be the first in their family to attend a four-year college. The school currently has 756 students in grades six through 12.

The Preuss School was ranked sixth in the nation by Newsweek magazine among high schools regarded as “the best in America,” and 10th best high school in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Media Contact: Pat JaCoby, 858 534-7404