\n\t\t\t\tNatalie medrano montano\nSalutatorian\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe class of 2015\u2019s valedictorian was Karen Hou Yin Xu. Salutatorian was Natalie Medrano Montano, while the Principal\u2019s Leadership Award went to Joshalynn Duenas Flores.<\/p>\n
In her speech, Xu said her last two years at the school have been \u201cvery emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI experienced a lot of stress but I also experienced a lot of great times,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But, she said, whenever she got upset, she would always have friends and family by her side.<\/p>\n
She told the crowd that she eventually came to realize that this was one of her \u201ckeys to success,\u201d getting advice and confidence from people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose people could be your peers, parents, teachers\u2014pretty much anyone you can trust. They help you build motivation and encourage you to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the mindset of \u201cI can do anything,\u201d you\u2019d naturally try harder. That was how I got where I am today,\u201d Xu said.<\/p>\n
School principal Jonas Barcinas urged students to strive for their dreams, in his message to students.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur graduates, this is not the end, but another beginning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t forget your Hilitai [school mascot] Spirit and take it wherever you go in your educational endeavors. As you strive to achieve your dreams, don\u2019t forget the people around you who have helped make a profound impact in your life. Take the time say thank you and give them a hug,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers, education officials, and a large crowd of parents, family, and friends attended the ceremony yesterday on the school campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hopwood Junior High School promoted about 352 eighth graders in a ceremony yesterday. The class…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":204312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[46,5436,5437,67],"class_list":["post-204307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-ceremony","tag-leadership-award","tag-natalie-medrano-montano","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}