Emily Ong

From serving the community to completing the rigorous IB program, Emily Ong has worked hard to make her parents proud, earning herself the title of co-salutatorian.

Ong took inspiration from her parents, becoming heavily involved in academic and leadership programs.

“[My parents] were the first people in their families to go to college, so that’s a really big reason why I did full IB and all my activities at school,” Ong said. “I wanted to make the most of my high school career and be ready for college.”

Ong’s dedication to the college dream required Ong to sacrifice her spot on the Indiancers team in pursuit of a greater leadership position.

“One of the hardest things was doing full IB and keeping up with my ASB responsibilities while in dance, but giving it up because I couldn’t fit everything in my schedule was still the greatest challenge for me this year,” Ong said.

Although Ong’s favorite memories came from the dance team where she made many of her friends, her decision to cut dance payed off when Ong took on the role of ASB president.

Ong committed to this position, spending most of her time at school to facilitate ASB events and using her time at home to complete the rest of her duties as president.

Throughout her demanding courses, Ong was awarded student of the month in multiple classes, was a serving member of NHS/CSF, a Full IB Diploma candidate, and has been in the Rotary Top 100 and awarded Principal’s Honor Roll all four years.

Ong will be majoring in communications at UC Santa Barbara in the fall, where she also plans to complete a business certificate program. After college, Ong plans for a career in business marketing.