Student of the Month: Nataly Cruz Juarez, A Freshman Leader

October 22, 2024

Sam Moore & Jamie Rodriguez 

 

This year's student of the month is Nataly Cruz Juarez, a freshman at Seaside High School. What is her story?

 

Nataly Cruz is a freshman at Seaside High School and the freshman class president. She is part of the leadership team in this school and her role is that she gets involved in school-wide activities and plans dances and lunch activities. For academics, she has A’s, B’s, and C’s, and she also takes a Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) Spanish class. She cares for her chickens and plays the electric guitar in her free time. She was chosen for student of the month by Carina Casissa an English teacher at Seaside High School. She was picked because Casissa said, “She is a quiet leader. She doesn’t fit the “stereotype” of a leadership student. She’s kind, thoughtful, and quietly fighting the world one day at a time.”

 

Another teacher who highlighted Cruz was Mandee Scropinti a Digital Media and Leadership teacher who stated, “Nataly is a standout leader who always steps up when student representation is needed. She steps up when needed and always tries her best. These qualities help set a positive example for others. I am proud of her and can't think of a more deserving student.”  For example, during 8th grade, she participated in National History Day. ( N.H.D ) she was a country winner at Los Arboles Middle School. Her category was performance, and her performance theme was Turning Points in History. She chose the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as her topic. Since she won the country competition, it made her a state-level competitor which meant that she got to go on a trip to Sacramento to compete. This shows she set a good example because she did things no other students did especially at such a young age (middle school).