{"id":301609,"date":"2019-06-17T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T20:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=301609"},"modified":"2019-06-17T06:00:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-16T20:00:12","slug":"montano-leads-sshs-class-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/montano-leads-sshs-class-of-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Montano leads SSHS Class of 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_301610\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-301610\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/SSHS-pix-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-301610\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The top ten graduates of the 2019 class of Saipan Southern High School pose for a photo. (Reica Ramirez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A total of 120 members of Saipan Southern High School\u2019s Class of 2019 received their diplomas last Thursday at the school\u2019s grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Class valedictorian, Natalie Montano, encouraged her fellow graduates to open themselves to \u201cnew ideas, experiences, and people.\u201d <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_301611\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-301611\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/SSHS-pix-3.jpg-copy-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-301611\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-301611\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NATALIE MONTANO<br \/>Valedictorian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She recalled the lessons she learned from a Japanese anime film titled Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service. Montano believes that the adventures her and her fellow graduates will take will \u201cstrengthen [their] skills and affirm [their] passion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she concluded her speech, Montano said, \u201cFind your own inspiration. Though your path in life may twist and turn, the magic inside will always be constant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Montano will pursue a major in environmental science.<\/p>\n<p>Class salutatorian Ruth Park congratulated her fellow graduates for surviving \u201cone of [the] most difficult moments in life.\u201d <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_301612\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-301612\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/SSHS-pix-2.jpg-copy-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-301612\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-301612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">RUTH PARK<br \/>Salutatorian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Park compared her class to Typhoon Soudelor and Super Typhoon Yutu stating that \u201cjust like the intensity of the two typhoons, we started strong and we have ended stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She expressed gratitude toward her teachers, counselors, friends, and family that supported and believed in her. \u201cNo one has ever pressured me to work hard for my grades. The only thing they did was believed in me,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Park also reminded her fellow graduates to be excited for their future and what lies ahead of them. She said, \u201cLet\u2019s have faith. Let\u2019s be persistent. Let\u2019s be resilient.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>She had so many feelings about being named the salutatorian. \u201cI was so surprised, overwhelmed, happy, and honored to be the salutatorian,\u201d Park said in an interview with Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n<p>Park will pursue a major in biology at San Diego Mesa College.<\/p>\n<p>Montano also received the Board of Education Award and the Governor\u2019s Leadership Award. Park also received the Commissioner of Education Award.<\/p>\n<p>Patricia Aldan Atalig received the Principal\u2019s Award.<\/p>\n<p>The top 10 highest honors were Montano, Park, Mark Reginald Villanueva, Ayessa Joy Navarro, Jobelle Tabuena, Marchie Lynn Sayas, Andre Tomy Taitingfong, Kathleen Loise Lacanilao, Alexander Tudela, and George Michael Santos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A total of 120 members of Saipan Southern High School\u2019s Class of 2019 received their&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":301610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301609","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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}