June 8, 2007

Three Canyon Lakers are among the TCHS valedictorians

At Temescal Canyon High School, senior students who maintain a grade point average of 4.0 or higher over the course of their high school years are automatically included in an elite group of scholars known as valedictorians. This year, three of TCHS’ 24 valedictorians are Canyon Lake residents: Kelcie Meineke, Catherine Pickett and Roman Sobolkin.

Kelcie Meineke

Kelcie Meineke, 17, has lived in Canyon Lake all her life and is the daughter of Susan and Brian Meineke. Her two older brothers are Chase and Spencer.

After taking seven Advanced Placement classes in World History, U.S. History, U.S. Government, Language Composition, English Literature, Calculus, A/B and Environmental Science, and two college courses at MSJC in Computer Processing and Physics 101, Kelcie has a 4.4 GPA and is president of the National Honor Society.

She is a Lifetime Member in the California Scholastic Federation (CSF); she also has two academic letters, is a platinum member of Renaissance, and was Student of the Month in March 2007. In sports, Kelcie is a licensed boxer for the Riverside County Boxing Club.

Her community service includes helping the Elks Lodge with its Thanksgiving dinner for the past three years, and helping out with the group’s Christmas Tree Lane this year. She has also volunteered to help with the Susan G.

Komen Race for the Cure, and has tutored low-achieving students at Tuscany Hills Elementary School.

After going through the yearlong admissions process for the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she received an appointment and a scholarship valued at $380,000, which was presented at the recent Scholarship Awards Night.

Kelcie plans to major in Aeronautical Engineering and minor in German Language. Her goal is to graduate from the Air Force Academy in 2011 as a Second Lieutenant and to make a career out of the military or work for Boeing.

Roman Sobolkin

Roman Sobolkin has lived in Canyon Lake for the past six years with his mother Yelena Rosenbaum and her husband, John.

A member of Police Explorer Post 315, Roman has nearly 100 hours of community service working a variety of events and projects with members of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and received letters of commendation from Sheriff Bob Doyle for his outstanding work at the annual Sheriff’s picnic and from 2006 Canyon Lake Mayor Martin Gibson for his work cleaning trash up in the city.

Academically, Roman is an above 4.1 GPA student and a member in the California Scholastic Federation (CSF), the National Honor Society and National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), as well as having received honors as Marine Science Student of the Year in 2005 and 3D Animation Student of the Year in 2006. He has also been named to Honor Roll and Renaissance each year from 2004 through 2007.

Roman has been accepted to California State University, Fullerton as well as to the Freshman Leadership Program. He plans to major in International Business and Chinese Language, with minors in the study of people and cultures to help prepare himself for a future traveling the world as an international businessman.

Catherine Pickett

At the age of 15, David and Vikky Pickett’s daughter, Catherine, has already achieved heights few teens her age do, and she’s about to add one more accomplishment to her already weighty resume – valedictorian. The award generally indicates memberships in the Top 100 and other academic groups like CSF and NHS, among others.

Catherine will be graduating with the Temescal Canyon High School Class of 2007 next Wednesday with an overall GPA of 4.33; and while she has received acceptance letters from UCI, UC Davis, Cal State Long Beach, Northern Arizona, UCR and Redlands, the only thing for certain is that regardless of the school she chooses, her thirst for

knowledge will undoubtedly make her stand out among a sea of students.

Catherine has been a high achiever throughout her life, taking her first college-level class at the age of nine, earning an “A” in the “Principles of Theater” at Riverside City College. She continued her quest for learning, taking health education and world history classes at UCR when she was 13, and spent last summer as the youngest student to be accepted for the American University in London program. “I like being stimulated and challenged,” Catherine said. “I am very focused when it comes to learning new things and new subjects.”

Although she plans to go into medicine and become a surgeon, Catherine isn’t just about studying. She also enjoys performing, which she was able to indulge in at the Chelsea Arts Club while in England. Recently, she was a member of the TCHS cast of “Cats.”

Writing also comes naturally to her, and her research on her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, has been placed in the National Holocaust Museum.