Working toward ‘never again’
Milken Community High School senior Leah Gluck is dedicated to raising awareness about genocide, even though it seems so distant and unsolvable.
Milken Community High School senior Leah Gluck is dedicated to raising awareness about genocide, even though it seems so distant and unsolvable.
Almost every day, Marissa Meyer, an 18-year-old senior at Agoura High School, heads out to the stable where her riding teacher rehabilitates abused horses. There she works with her 15-year-old gelding, Lucky. Helping to heal him after his difficult life at a dude ranch has been one of her passions for the last seven years and has also helped spur her interest in physical therapy and sports medicine in humans.
Shalhevet journalism teacher Joelle Keene says that Leila Miller, editor-in-chief of the school\’s newspaper, The Boiling Point, has set a high standard for journalism, integrity and optimism amid complex human relations.
Agoura High School senior Brian Hertz was shaken when a student at New Community Jewish High School died in a car accident in February 2010.
Eeman Khorramian could see himself entering the political world. The Palisades Charter High School senior has been highly active in school affairs and with the school\’s student government since ninth grade. His leadership skills even earned him the position of student body president.
“Yeah, those years of seventh to ninth grade were not the greatest years for Jacob Cohen,” Jacob Cohen says, trying to bring a little levity to a pretty grueling litany.
Each year, we profile a group of outstanding high school seniors, culled from the many nominations sent in by you, our readers. And each year, we find it almost impossible to choose among the many extraordinary leaders, givers and enormously talented graduating teens.
Disguised as an elderly woman in czarist Russia, Sheridan Pierce took the stage at Brentwood School. As the bright lights touched her face and the character took over her body, Pierce poured her heart into her role, and she realized that she was meant to act. The play was \”Fiddler on the Roof,\” and Pierce, a ninth-grader at the time, was playing Yente the matchmaker. The significance of the role, she said, was her connection with the character on a more personal level. \”Deep in my soul, I\’m already a little old Jewish lady,\” she joked.
Quinn Lohmann closes his eyes and tilts his head slightly. His fingers find their place between the frets of his guitar, and his voice rings out, soft and crystal clear. \”We all got a life to live. We all got a gift to give. …\”
When his late grandmother was first diagnosed with terminal cancer three years ago, Jason Aftalion was moved by the volunteers who visited her at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. \”I was so touched by how they talked to her and spent time with her, so she wouldn\’t be lonely,\” said Aftalion, a Persian-American senior at Milken Community High School.