Mission High School announces their Top 3 Students for the Class of 2021. This year Lisa Monique Garza has been named as valedictorian, Maielah Davis is the salutatorian, and Gabriel Rodriguez, Jr. is the third ranking student. Congratulations to these students and the Class of 2021 for all their educational accomplishments.
Lisa Monique Garza
Mission High School has named Lisa Monique Garza as their Class of 2021 valedictorian. She is the daughter of Edgar and Lupita Garza. She plans to attend the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where she will be pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice. She is passionate about wanting to help children get out of abusive situations. One day she hopes to continue her work and advocacy for children at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Crimes Against Children division.
Lisa plans to be busy this summer volunteering with UTRGV Talent Search by helping the soon to be high school seniors prepare for college. She looks forward to getting involved with college activities, building relationships, and giving back to the community. While in high school Lisa stayed busy with her studies as well as extra-curricular activities such as Freshman Class President, Sophomore Class President, Junior Class President, Student Council President, Criminal Justice Club Secretary, Criminal Justice Club President, Robotics, BPA Legal Office Procedures, Basketball, RGV Lead, UTRGV Talent Search, UTRGV Outreach, National Honor Society President, and Mission CISD Superintendent’s Advisory Board just to mention a few. She did receive several offers from different universities but ultimately selected to go to UTRGV where she will be receiving a full tuition scholarship.
Lisa leaves a few words of encouragement for next year’s seniors; “As hard as it gets, never lose sight of what your dreams are, that is your ultimate motivation. Take one day at a time.”
Maielah Davis
This year’s Mission High School salutatorian, Maielah Davis, is the daughter of Melissa Davis and Henry Davis, Jr. She will be attending the University of Texas A & M – Kingsville where she will be pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. She is interested in providing renewable energy options such as solar and wind energy. She states that we need to have renewable energy options available before our fossil fuels and natural gas supplies begin to decline. After college graduation she hopes to start working in her field and start providing bigger cities alternative fuel options.
As soon as this school year is over, she looks forward to volunteering and maybe getting a summer job. She is excited to hit the ground running at the university and start taking the electrical engineering classes that she is so passionate about. She also can’t wait to collaborate and brainstorm with like-minded people in her field. She will miss the sense of community in Mission while she is away. She has been involved in several academic organizations while in high school such as UIL Calculator, Applications, Mathematics, Numbers Sense, Science, UIL Academic Club President, Robotics, DECA, Business Professionals of America, and National Honor Society. Maielah has also received the Texas A&M Kingsville Presidential Scholarship (full tuition), and the 2021 Earth Steward Scholarship – Cielo Wind Power.
She leaves the MHS seniors a few words of advice, “Push through it all. It has been extremely challenging this year but keep pushing when you want to give up.”
Gabriel Rodriguez, Jr.
The 2021 Mission High School third ranking student is Gabriel Rodriguez, Jr., and he is the son of Gabriel and Manuelita Garcia. He will be headed out to Austin this fall to attend the University of Texas to pursue a degree in Architectural Engineering. He would like to participate in an internship before graduating and then land a job with an architectural firm that is contracted to work on larger projects. He is interested and looks forward to contributing his knowledge and talents to a big commercial project. Gabriel’s plans for the summer include getting organized and ready to start his higher academic journey. He is looking forward to the different campus life experiences and learning all about his field of interest.
Gabriel states that he will miss his close-knit family while he is at college. He has kept a busy schedule this year with his educational goals and participating in extra-curricular activities such as UIL Science, Math, Number Sense, and Calculators, Robotics, Future Business Leaders of America, National Honor Society, Business Professionals of America Spreadsheet Applications and Administrative Support team, and Tennis. He received the UT Engineering Scholarship, and Dell Scholar Scholarship.
He leaves the Class of 2022 with a few words, “Just work hard in what you believe in. Appreciate the amount of work you put into school.”