Congratulations to this years CalRTA 2022 scholarship awardees! Five of which are our very own DSUSD seniors.
Michael Gonzalez
Michael Gonzalez of Shadow Hills High School has “always been intrigued by math and science,” intrigued enough to be one of the top math and statistics students at Shadow Hills, intrigued enough to ace Advanced Placement calculus! Michael wants to study bioengineering, with the long-term goal “to design, install, evaluate and create the machines and medical devices that physicians use to treat and diagnose patients.” Both the fact that family members already use continuous glucose monitoring arm sensors and the recent pandemic-caused rush to produce ventilators and respirators confirm for him his choice of a life path. He takes great inspiration as well from his mother, who immigrated to the States at age fourteen and went on eventually to earn a graduate degree and multiple education credentials.
Hailey Howell
Palm Desert High School and the Coachella Valley has a hidden gem in Hailey Howell. Not only is she an outstanding student academically, but she exemplifies the spirit of volunteerism so needed in society today. You may see her quietly and modestly working behind the scenes at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, or delivering meals to homebound elders, making dog toys, helping organize blood drives, assisting children with CP during the Tour de Palm Springs. There’s more! – American Cancer Society Thrift Store, Children’s Discovery Museum counselor, Living Desert volunteer, Big Brothers and Big Sisters carnival booth helper, YMCA Breakfast with Santa. As Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” She is well on the way to finding herself.
Dallas Ingle
The pandemic brought most school activities to a screeching halt, including band competitions and sports events. La Quinta High School Blackhawk Brigade Marching Band’s Dallas Ingle, a lead baton twirler, has dug deep and persevered to maintain outstanding grades in her Honors, IB and AP coursework, as well as retain the motivation and determination to pursue baton twirling at the collegiate level. She has a very unique and mature academic interest: medical ethics, coupled with human biology, specifically the immune response. To that end she wants to major in Health and Disease with a minor in Philosophy at Purdue, Syracuse or Oregon State. She credits her graduate degree holding parents with teaching her to prioritize academics “while maintaining a balanced social life and commitment to extracurricular activities.”
Sarah Macuixtle
Her counselor at La Quinta High School describes Sarah Macuixtle as exceptional, outstanding, determined, resilient. She combines these traits with a fierce determination to make her immigrant parents proud and repay their sacrifice on her behalf. She is enrolled in the rigorous International Baccalaureate certificate program, while involved in a number of clubs and activities: ASB, Varsity Cheer, M.E.Ch.A, and the Key, Environmental, Red Cross and Art clubs. She is a Summa cum Laude scholar as well. Never one to turn her back on those in need, she volunteers at Martha’s Kitchen and Find Food Bank, and assists as a Teacher’s Aid. The teaching profession will welcome her with open arms, when she achieves her career goal of becoming a primary school educator.
Hailey Printz
Sports is a major focus of La Quinta High School’s Hailey Printz. She has played both club and high school soccer the last four years, and intends to major in Media Marketing, so that she can manage social media platforms for a professional sports team – NFL, NHL, MLB – all would be good. California schools will miss out, as she intends to pursue the next round of schooling out
of state in Colorado, Louisiana or Pennsylvania. She is reputed to have a great sense of humor and a balanced personality, necessary when juggling sports travel, four years of Summa cum Laude academic achievement, volunteering for her church, working on the yearbook and more. Her World History and Econ teacher says she is “kind, humble, hard-working, genuine,” traits we should all aspire to embody.