Mission Prep salutes 61 graduates from the Class of 2023
Wearing dark blue robes and mortarboards with bright yellow tassels, 61 graduating seniors at Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School accepted their diplomas on Friday evening.
The private school held a commencement ceremony for the Class of 2023 on the steps of Mission Plaza in downtown San Luis Obispo.
The celebration began at 6:30 p.m. and Mission Prep Principal Mike Susank gave a speech about the class before the students walked across the stage.
During the ceremony, school officials named the recipients of the Marian and Serra awards, given to the female and male students who best represent the school’s mission and values of scholarship, inspiration and leadership.
Annie Pompa, who was awarded the Marian Award, earned a grade-point average of 4.57.
Eli Marsalek earned the Serra Award with a 4.74 grade-point average.
“I will always remember how easy it was to talk to everybody in my class,” Marsalek said in his address to the class. “It didn’t matter if we hung out every day or if we got along all the time. At the end of the day, we were always there for each other. And that’s what family is. You show up when it counts and find joy in the success of those around you.”
Both grads will be attending Boston College in the fall — Pompa on a full scholarship.
Mission Prep’s Class of 2023 valedictorian was Antonia Campos-Altermatt, who earned a 4.81 grade-point average and will be attending UC Berkeley.
Marsalek was also the school’s salutatorian.
Other Mission Prep grads will be attending universities including the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s University of California, the University of San Diego, Harvey Mudd College and the United States Naval College, according to Susank.
Of the graduating class, five students will attend schools in the University of California system, and 15 students will attend California State University schools, including 11 at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
Another eight Mission Prep grads will take advantage of the Cuesta Promise to attend Cuesta College for two years, tuition free.
At least six of the grads will be collegiate athletes.
These students include Emma Boehm, who is playing basketball at George Fox University; Tristan Wouters, playing soccer at UC Davis; and JJ Howard, playing basketball at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.
Four Mission Prep grads will continue playing football in college, including Cole Tanner at the College of Idaho, Colby White at Cal Poly and R.J. Esmon at the University of Nevada at Reno.
Two Mission Prep grads plan to attend college to become actors.
Lunabella Levin will attend PCPA-Pacific Conservatory Theatre in Santa Maria, while Curran Bojorquez will attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.
About 90% of the Mission Prep graduating class plans to head directly into college in the fall, while the remaining grads plan to take a gap year, study abroad, start flight school or launch their careers.
As a whole, the graduating students earned an unweighted GPA of 3.4 with more than 18% earning above a 4.0 cumulative unweighted GPA.
To date, Mission Prep seniors have earned more than $1.8 million in scholarships from their chosen schools.
“These awards are self-reported by students and families, so that undoubtedly represents just a partial list, but it is an outstanding class which has exceeded all expectations,” Susank said.
