This HCS Lifer is a very busy young lady whose recurring themes as an “encourager” “helper” and someone with “exemplary character” came through repeatedly in the feedback I received.

She is involved with several of our extracurricular clubs including basketball, indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, and softball. Basically, if there’s a ball involved, she’s involved. But in addition to sports, she’s was also involved at various times in both drama and choir. On top of that, she attended our co-op class days as well as the HCS Academy. But all of that busyness did not come at the expense of her studies and she maintained an impressive GPA throughout all her high school years.

Some of the comments from her teachers, coaches, and others on the HCS Leadership Team include things like:

“What stands out to me most is her genuine care and kindness towards others. She truly is others oriented, which is such a beautiful and rare thing to see in a teen. In class, she is always willing to help, very attentive, and encouraging to her classmates. She is a joy to be around.”

As someone else put it: “She is a hard worker, fun to be around, and has great character. She genuinely cares about her teammates and coaches. She is kind and courteous.. She works well with her peers. She definitely stands out as an individual who goes the extra mile to be friendly and respectful. She is kindhearted, good-natured, and a pleasant young lady.”

Someone else referred to her as an encourager by nature. Always sharing positive words and helping others to remain upbeat. She doesn’t complain and continues to give her best effort even in the face of disappointment. She includes everyone (and) is a natural leader. “

Outside of school, she has volunteered with various political campaigns including helping out with mailers and even once went door-to-door with her mom. She has also volunteered with Circle T Ranch where she assisted troubled youth who worked with horses as part of a therapy program. As soon as she turned 16, she joined the San Diego Firefighter Cadet Program and has worked hard and has spent her senior year as an intern with the San Diego Firefighter Department sometimes working 24 hour shifts, going on all calls from car accidents to cardiac arrests and has assisted (literally) in life saving measures. During the floods in 2024, she volunteered with the fire department in communities that were hit hard assisting people with various practical needs.

She is known as someone who is always looking for opportunities to encourage and uplift others in need.She is involved in youth group and bible study and gets together with other youth to make and deliver baked good to the elderly and shut-in in her congregation around the holidays, spending time with them to let them know they are remembered and loved.

This student is also an HCS Lifer with an impressive resume, so to speak. He is very involved with life here at HCS. He has attended both co-op class days and the HCS Academy. A well-rounded student, he has participated in all three categories of our extracurricular clubs by participating in both indoor and beach volleyball, both jazz and concert band, a crew member for drama, and is a member of the Honor Society.

He is well respected and enthusiastically endorsed by his teachers, coaches, and others on the HCS Leadership Team.

One of his teachers referred to him as the “dream student” who not only contributes valuable, insightful, and thought-provoking analysis both verbally and in writing on various assignments across many disciplines but also displays a sincere care for others and God in a humble way. Though clearly gifted academically and in other ways, he carries himself with an approachability and humility that stands out. As one teacher put it after raving about his academically impressive work: What truly distinguishes him , however, is his character. Though not seeking the spotlight, he creates an inclusive classroom environment by actively engaging with every classmate's contributions and offering sincere encouragement. His quiet leadership inspires peers and builds community.

This sentiment was echoed by several of his teachers who could not say enough about the quality of his work, but were also so impressed by his conduct, humility, respectfulness, and attitude.

His achievements musically are equally impressive. He has lettered in band and served as the section leader for 3 years. This past February, he was chosen to participate in the Southern California Christian Schools Honor Band at Azusa Pacific University.

Outside of HCS, he has volunteered over the years with a Christian, homeless ministry serving food. For the past six years, he has worked hard on an annual Mexico house building missions trip. He has also participated in Stoa Speech and Debate for 3 years.

At church, he has continued to use his gift in music by playing trumpet for various worship services as well as running both the Livestream and (slides) for worship. He is very involved in his youth group and is on the Student Leadership Team, participating and volunteering in various service projects with the youth group. He also volunteers many hours every summer with VBS, helping build sets, run games for kids, and tear down afterwards. He also does that for the church’s annual Harvest Festival as well as helps annually with Christmas decoration setup and tear down.

As one of his past teachers very well put it: This student has made a tremendous impact on so many families, including our own. His combination of academic excellence, selfless service, and genuine care for others has profoundly impacted our community. His quiet integrity and bright spirit represent exactly what the Principal's Choice Award was designed to recognize.

This HCS Lifer’s nomination was enthusiastically supported by all the leaders of the various clubs and activities she participated in high school. At HCS, we have three categories of clubs: academic, sports, and performing arts This well-rounded student was one of the only students nominated to have participated in all three categories of our clubs, she was involved in yearbook, choir, drama, indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, and basketball, as well as attended one of our co-op class days and the HCS academy. Leaders describe her as kind and tender-hearted to all students whether they were in her friend group or not and having a generous and giving heart, everyone across the board referred to her infectious smile, teachable spirit, and consistent desire no matter what club or situation she was in to improve and grow in her skills and tasks assigned taking the initiative to ask how she could improve, receiving and incorporating any and all direction or correction or input from leadership, staying later to work on her skills or assignments, and seeking out private instruction and training to improve in her roles and positions within her setting. She has been described as someone who was not the first volunteer to take on leadership roles, but who never turned down the request to step up and take on those roles even if it was initially outside of her comfort zone. And then in those settings, she proved herself worthy of the responsibility and led with grace and kindness to everyone around her.”

“She is very involved in her church serving on the audio-visual team and children’s ministry. She has assisted with her church’s Family Camp, women’s retreat, and nearly all the church baby and bridal showers. Outside of church, she volunteers for different ministries in various capacities including serving at Indian Hills Family Days, Rough Acres Ranch work days, fundraising activities, and babysitting for various ministry events. She was also involved in AIM which is a Christian discipleship ministry giving the gospel of Jesus Christ through the arts of mime and acting. Through AIM, she was also involved in many community service projects. She has started and led various bible studies and ministers to younger students in a mentorship role earning her the nickname of “mom” to those whom she has blessed.”

“On top of her extracurricular, church, and volunteer work, she holds an outside job at a local coffee shop as well as does the payroll for her father’s business.”

Her adept baking skills are well-noted and she uses her gifts in this area to bless others. Three of the different clubs specifically mentioned her quietly blessing others behind the scenes with her homemade treats. What they don’t know, is she also does this outside of a school setting, sometimes delivering homemade goodies to people’s homes to thank, bless, or encourage them. As one of her former club leaders put it: “She is one of those rare students who will live in my mind for a very long time.”

The Principal’s Choice award is presented to one young woman and one young man from the senior class who were nominated by someone within the HCS community. Some of the categories and qualifications for consideration of this award included academic achievement, adherence to school policies and conduct, character, involvement in the life and community of HCS, community and church service and involvement, as well as further endorsement and recommendations from their teachers, members of the volunteer leadership team, and the HCS office staff.

This young man has overcome many challenges in his life and instead of those obstacles defining him, he has worked hard and risen above the labels and challenges to achieve the success he has. Diagnosed as autistic as a toddler and spending years working with educational specialists in traditional settings, he has had to work 5x as hard as anyone else in a homeschool setting without his educational “helpers” at his side. His teachers describe him as hard-working, diligent, and extremely thorough, resulting in his almost straight-A status in high school. If that were not impressive enough, without sacrificing his impressive GPA or priority on school work, he has also been involved in several HCS settings including indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, choir, and drama, all while handling the rigorous workload of Academy classes, and also attending one of our co-op class days. What struck me the most in reading his teachers' and club and class day leader's comments was the repeated way in which this young man was described: gratitude and his noted practice of expressing of thankfulness and helpfulness to his teachers, coaches, and leaders was one recurring theme. Another thing that stood out was his friendliness and heart in befriending those who seemed to be more introverted or friendless. Repeatedly, those who had leadership over him saw him interact with all types of people including those, as one leader put it, who weren’t in the “in” crowd or even in his own immediate circle of close friends. Respectfulness, welcoming disposition, enthusiastic, responsible, kind, encouraging, hard worker, and humble were all words used by others in their wholehearted support of this nominee. Life gave him lemons, as someone pointed out, and he made lemonade so that he could share it with others. That seems to perfectly encapsulate what those around him communicated as well.

This remarkable young woman received multiple, enthusiastic recommendations and endorsements from the Volunteer Leadership team and teachers. She has been involved in several HCS clubs throughout high school including honor society, choir, and band as well as participated in both the HCS Academy and Class Day. She has also been active in speech and debate. She serves in her church in children’s ministry and in both setting up and preparing the communion table. And when I say preparing, I mean actually making the bread! She is actively and intentionally involved in the lives of her neighbors in need and has participated in various fundraisers for the Pregnancy Care Clinic and other charities. She has taken on the primary teaching role for her younger siblings and has even been called upon to serve as a substitute teacher for our Junior Academy.

This young man was repeatedly nominated for this year’s award. When we were able to send his name off to someone on the volunteer leadership team who didn’t nominate him, we received nothing but glowing recommendations about his character, leadership qualities, humility, helpfulness, and servant’s heart. In his high school years, he has been involved in drama, volleyball, basketball, and honor society as well as class day. He is also very involved with speech and debate. He plays the piano weekly at his church for both the morning and evening services, helped to figure out how to stream and post sermons during Covid and continues to helps with tech/sound needs at church. He has served multiple times with San diego rescue mission projects, as well as a Joni and Friends camp. He lead a bible study at class day during the lunch hour, and has worked his way up to becoming a manager at Chik-fil-a while still in high school.