Oakland Recognizes High Achieving Students

May 11, 2014

Posted in Education/Schools/Youth

Oakland City Council members recognized some of the city’s high acheiving students  this week’s council meeting. Shown (L to R): Maria De Jesus Ramos Mendez, Fremont High; Cindy Mach, Donglang Li, Oakland Charter High; Justin Shelmire, American Indian Public High; Calvert Chan, Oakland Charter High, and Akintunde Ahmad, Oakland Tech. Photo by Ken Epstein

By Ken Epstien

The Oakland City Council recognized some of the city’s top students at this week’s council meeting, paying tribute to the young people, who “through their natural talents and unflagging commitment to academic excellence, have distinguished themselves in Oakland schools.”

District 1 student Yasser Alwan attends Oakland International High School. Yasser was honored for excellence in the school’s multimedia California Partnership Academy program.

Two District 2 students were recognized, Sherry Ling, an 11-grader at Oakland High; and Marisol Jauregui, a senior at Oakland High. Sherry was a student body Commissioner of Education. Last summer, she visited Peru with World Savvy to investigate the idea of global sustainability. Marisol has excellent attendance and grades and is a member of the Leadership class.

Terrance Tucker, who attends McClymonds High in District 3, plays on the varsity basketball team, is a leader on the Student Leadership Team and an academic leader in each of his classes.

Janne Ho is an eighth grader at Bret Harte Middle School in District 4. Janne has perfect grades and is a math tutor.

District 5 honorees are Maria de Jesus Ramos Mendez, Fremont High, who has a 4.05 GPA; Jamika Wilson, Fremont High, who is a community leader and youth mentor; Justin Shelmire, American Indian Public High School, who has perfect attendance since kindergarten and is graduating with honors;

Clavert Chan, Oakland Charter High has been accepted to six universities including Princeton and UCLA; Dongliang Li, Oakland Charter High, has perfect attendance since sixth grade; Cindy Mach, Oakland Charter High, is a leader and president of the BAUCE Club, associated with the Jefferson Awards and has perfect attendance in 12th grade.

District 7 honoree Akintunde Ahmad attends Oakland Technical High. Akintunde has a 5.0 GPA and will attend Yale University with a $15,000 scholarship.