Coronado High School’s graduating class of 2022 suffered trials and tribulations throughout their four years of high school. These students experienced a relatively ordinary freshman year, but sophomore year was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Junior year, deemed the most important for transcripts and college applications, was held almost entirely over Zoom. Only in their last and final year of high school did they enjoy traditional activities such as Homecoming, Powder Puff, and prom. Through it all, this class was full of brilliant students, scholars, artists, musicians, and citizens destined for greatness in the next chapter of their lives.
Coronado High School recognized the top graduating students with class co-valedictorians Emma Borgie and Nico DiMatteo and salutatorian Ian Crozier.
Co-Valedictorian: Emma Borgie
Emma Borgie will graduate CHS with a weighted GPA of 4.59. Over the last four years, she has taken a total of 15 AP classes.
“Although I enjoyed most of my classes at CHS, my favorite ones were the ones that really felt like a community, where there was some level of camaraderie amongst the students and teacher. These classes were more like a family, and I felt safe to be myself,” Emma shared.
Some of her most enjoyable classes were Mr. Aldworth’s Honors and AP World History classes, Mr. Lemie’s AP Physics 2 class, and Mrs. Probasco’s AP Spanish class.
“My favorite high school memory was probably when I accidentally spread a false rumor that my brother Andrew was trying out to be the Islander Tiki mascot,” Emma recounted. “It happened rather innocently when I said he was a good dancer and would make a great Tiki mascot. Needless to say, he was not happy when all these people suddenly started coming up to him and asking him about being the school mascot. It is now a pretty funny memory that we share, but Andrew, who is rather reserved, did not find it funny at the time.”
Emma has participated in a wide range of extracurricular activities throughout her high school career. She was formerly the treasurer and is currently president of the Junior Optimist Club, vice president of the Crown City Robotics Club, treasurer of the National Honor Society, member of the Flight Club, and a former CHS Lunchies participant. Emma was also a member of The Factory travel softball team as a freshman and played for the high school JV and varsity softball teams before learning to fence. Outside of school, she is a member of St. Paul’s Youth Group, plays the ukulele, takes coding lessons, and volunteers with the Coronado Public Library and Habitat for Humanity. Among this list of extracurriculars, Emma is also a long-time Girl Scout who earned her Gold Award last year.
This coming fall, Emma will be joining her older brother Andrew at the University of Notre Dame, where she plans to major in Aerospace Engineering.
When asked what she sees herself doing in ten years, Emma said, “I hope to be content, living a well-rounded life. Right now, that well-rounded future is one where I am leaning on life experiences and my education from the University of Notre Dame to work in the field of aerospace engineering. In fact, my dream job would be working at NASA. However, I also hope to continue making a conscious effort to try new things and be an active part of the community.”
Co-Valedictorian: Nico DiMatteo
Nico DiMatteo looks forward to graduating CHS with a weighted GPA of 4.59. He has 12 AP classes under his belt, and among his favorites were AP Chemistry, Calculus, IM3 Honors, and AP Physics. Mr. Lemei, Ms. Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Castillo, and Ms. Kim were among the teachers that have positively impacted his learning.
“My favorite high school memory was Powder Puff my junior year,” Nico shared. “After being on Zoom most of the year, having everyone together at an event was super fun. My class had tons of spirit and everyone enjoyed the event. It was the first time that it felt like everything was back to normal.”
Outside of school and academics, Nico is a well-rounded athlete and member of the community. He was a surf camp manager and lead instructor, a tutor to fellow high school students, and a COR team member at Sacred Heart Catholic Church as part of their youth group. He also attended a summer program at The University of Cambridge and studied global business and aerospace engineering.
Along with these extracurricular activities, Nico also played three different sports throughout high school: rugby, football, and baseball. He won the 2021 US National Rugby Championship with his U18 Club and was selected to participate in a New Zealand Rugby tour. He played on the varsity football team for three years and was personally ranked eighth in the entire state of California for field goal kicking. Thirdly, Nico was a member of the CHS varsity baseball team for three years.
This fall, Nico plans on majoring in business economics and minoring in accounting and entrepreneurship at the University of California, Los Angeles.
When asked what tips he would give to students aspiring to graduate at the top of their class, Nico shared, “Students need to find balance in their life. I was able to find a good balance in my life between sports and school, and it really helped me succeed in school. This forced me to be efficient and helped me have fun throughout high school.”
Ten years from now, Nico wants to be running his own business. He desires to work in investment banking for a couple years then transition to graduate school and finally, start his own company.
Salutatorian: Ian Crozier
With a weighted GPA of 4.33 and a transcript with 12 AP classes, Ian Crozier was named Salutatorian of the graduating class of 2022.
“I enjoyed all my classes and teachers at CHS and all of them made me truly invested in learning each topic we discussed in class. However, no class was quite like AP Physics II. I’ve always loved understanding our world and physics has always been a great way for me to learn more about how our universe functions. AP Physics II was so interesting because it taught me about the things I had little understanding of before, and the things about our universe we can’t even see. We didn’t just learn about how light, electricity, magnetism, or other phenomena work, but we also learned about how it was discovered, making the topics easier to grasp than simply their abstract forms,” Ian shared.
Throughout his high school career, the CoSA Musical Theater and Drama conservatory has played a critical role in shaping Ian into the student that he is today. Through participating in classes ranging from singing and acting to ballet and theater business, Ian had the opportunity to perform in three shows this school year: All Shook Up, As You Like It, and The Laramie Project.
Ian plans on pursuing a major in mechanical engineering at the University of San Diego this fall.
Coronado High School is hosting their 2022 graduation ceremony at the Niedermeyer Field at 7:30 PM on Thursday, June 16.
