Jesse Tohl played the Persian peddler Ali Hakim in his school’s production of “Oklahoma!” this spring. What makes that fact remarkable is that Tohl was born with oral apraxia and dysarthria, conditions in which facial muscles that control speech do not function properly.
Lauren Mickelson didn’t know that her nickname, Lulu, is slang for a remarkable person, object or idea. But the word describes her high school achievements perfectly.
Most kids have a “why” phase, but Harrison Tasoff’s was both particularly intense and long lasting.
At age 12, most kids have plenty to worry about with social pressures, schoolwork and extracurricular activities. For Sheva Gralnik, age 12 also marked the time that her life changed forever.
It is almost pointless to ask Jeffrey Kessler what he does in his free time because it is hard to imagine he would have any. Sure, he takes time to sleep, but very reluctantly.
A few years ago Mason Kroll went with his family to see a touring production of “A Chorus Line.” On the way home, Kroll recalled, “My dad turns to me and says, ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a musical when he was in college. What are you doing?’ I didn’t take him seriously at all.”
As editor-in-chief of The Boiling Point, Shalhevet’s award-winning newspaper, Lexi Gelb grapples with social and political issues that range from the conflict in the Congo to the intersection of fashion and philosophy.
Larissa Shebroe’s military jacket is decked out with colorful patches, braided ropes, shiny pins, ribbons and dangling medals. The decorated battalion commander of the Van Nuys High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) Wolf Pack is ranked second in Los Angeles, from among more than 4,000 cadets, earning her the prestigious title of All City Deputy Colonel for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Jessica Kianmahd had a lot on her plate a year ago, between volunteering as a Big Sister, involvement in her high school’s social activist group and various musical pursuits.
With continuing awe, we present another year’s sampling of outstanding high school seniors. This year’s graduating class includes activists, performers and social entrepreneurs, some of whom have raised thousands of dollars for causes locally and across the globe. They’ve started citywide efforts to make our world more inhabitable and our citizens more literate, even as they received academic honors and overcame their own challenges.
