KESQ & CBS Local 2 highlight graduating Class of 2017

It’s graduation time for high school seniors across the Coachella Valley. And before these kids step out into the real world, KESQ News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 wanted to highlight two outstanding students from each school district.

Desert Hot Springs High School held its graduation on Wednesday, with other local high school’s taking part in ceremonies in the near future.

Alexandra Pierce has our coverage of the Class of 2017.

Our third day of covering outstanding graduates in the Coachella Valley brings us to the Coachella Valley Unified School District, where we met Jonathan Serrato from Desert Mirage High School and Krystal Covarrubias from West Shores High School.

Both students are making a big move.

Once Jonathan graduates from Desert Mirage High School he will attend UCLA. “As for now I have plans to do neuroscience and there’s a possibility I might do a dual major with mathematics on the side.” Jonathan said.

Krystal said she will attend UC San Marcos after graduating from West Shores High School.

But they won’t be gone for long — both students plan to return to their communities after college with hopes of making them better than how they left them.

“My mother has suffered from a lot of illnesses and surgeries and seeing that and seeing how in this community there’s a lack of healthcare and lack of resources,” said Serrato. Which is why she plans to return to the valley to work in the healthcare industry. “So I can give back what was given to me and especially focus on the eastern Coachella Valley.”

On Thursday, we were introduced to DSUSD students Madalynn Barnes from Horizon High School and Ngan Nguyen from La Quinta High School.

Both Madalynn and Ngan are hoping to one day enter the medical field.

For Madalynn it wasn’t always an easy path — switching to an independent study at the Horizon School after high school wasn’t meeting her needs.

“I wasn’t feeling like my teachers were paying much attention to me. I was struggling to get good grades. I was a cheerleader and a track runner, but at the same time I wasn’t as happy, so I came here,” said Madalynn.

Now she’s thriving – taking classes at College of the Desert and working part time.

Nguyen has similar aspirations — excelling at La Quinta High School and attending UC Riverside in the fall. But Nguyen had a lot of barriers she had to break through after immigrating from Vietnam.

“Speaking English because I’ve only been here six years in the United States and having to come over here and learn everything over, and I was struggling,” said Nguyen.

Both women agree they’ve grown a lot throughout their time at high school but now they’re ready to take on the real world.

Watch Thursday’s report of our outstanding DSUSD students right below:

Our first report on Wednesday covered the accomplishments of PSUSD students Gabriela Rocha, breaking barriers as the only female on the Desert Hot Springs High School football team. For some high school students, figuring out what they want to do as a career can be intimidating. But not for these two young women.

And Alexandra Pierce also met with Sebastian Guzman practicing with his band mates at Rancho Mirage High School. The saxophone player is setting his sights on high, applying for two Ivy League schools.

Watch Alexandra’s report on two outstanding students from PSUSD right below:

Congratulations to all of the graduating seniors in the Class of 2017! We’ll have more photos from all of the local high school graduations posted here as they take place across the valley.

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