Poth, Texas Hard work and determination have paid off for Poth High School graduate Miles Korzekwa. Despite growing up in the small community of Koscuisko just outside of Poth, Korzekwa is ready to move to a bigger city. One way was joining a volunteer program and logging over 100 hours of volunteer work. His hard work paid off and Korzekwa finished at the top of his senior class with a 106.39 GPA. Even though weve had all this stuff going on, theres still better things ahead, Korzekwa said.

SAN ANTONIO Senior Tristino Ali said he used to be super shy, but it was choir that truly broke him out of his shell. I was really shy, like really shy, Ali said. Like someone walked past me... it wouldnt happen.After achieving several awards through honors choir over four years at Clemens High School, Ali said making all-state choir this year was the most rewarding. One of his school counselors, Vicki Williams, said his accomplishments are impressive and she is extremely proud of his hard work. He is just a phenomenal young man.Ali said he just wants to use his music degree to one day be a high school choir teacher.

As a result, KSAT12′s Great Graduates series highlights local graduates who have gone above and beyond. Shilpa Gunuganti, a recent Saint Mary’s Hall graduate, has not only won prestigious speech and debate awards but has also started a legal non-profit to help members of the community. Gunuganti has also used her voice and her intellect to step up and help out the San Antonio community in a big way. “It's called Legal Legacy Project,” Gunuganti said. In the fall, Shilpa is set to be a Harvard student, but that doesn’t mean her community service ends.

Great Graduates 2020: Shilpa GunugantiPublished: June 11, 2020, 11:05 amShilpa Gunuganti, a recent Saint Mary’s Hall graduate, has not only won prestigious speech and debate awards but has also started a legal non-profit to help members of the community.

SAN ANTONIO – Alamo Heights High School continues to celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s graduating class. He’s a member of several organizations including the National Honor Society, Young Engineers and the Alamo Heights Rocketry Club. “They sent out an email telling me that I was nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholar Award,” Lloyd said. Alamo Heights High School - Great Graduates 2020“I’m going to Duke University next year to the School of Engineering for biomedical engineering,” Lloyd said. Lloyd is one of 161 students in the nation and one of four Texans to receive the U.S. Presidential Scholar Award this year.

SAN ANTONIO An art contest in the fifth grade helped Rachel Kamata realize she had potential as an artist. There was a Parent Teacher Association art competition, Kamata said. Through the years, Kamata has been able to explore new art mediums like oil panting, clay and block painting. For this piece, it's really talking about my Japanese heritage and my grandparents who live in Japan, Kamata said. Kamata was able to make copies of her print and sent one to her grandparents for Mothers Day.

SAN ANTONIO – Eduardo Ramos is graduating at the top of his class. He’s the valedictorian at Fox Tech High School, but he said he is already excited about his next chapter — medical school. “I’ve been in cross country, I’ve been in track, I’ve been in archery, I’ve been in soccer,” said Ramos. “They added soccer to Fox Tech,” said Ramos. So, it was pretty cool.”Jose Castro is a law and world history teacher at Fox Tech High School, but he also coaches cross country and track.

She lost her father to brain cancer during her sophomore year in high school. “They did an MRI and they found out I had a brain tumor,” Victoria said. “It was hard to understand why it would happen twice in our family,” Victoria said. But her family and friends rallied around her and gave her the strength to recover from her surgery to remove her brain tumor in December. She was the president of the student council, Lieutenant Colonel of the Steele dance team and was a member of the band.

SAN ANTONIO Valeria Valle is the valedictorian at Jefferson High School and she is very excited about going to the University of Texas at Austin in the fall, where she plans to study biochemistry. Valle is also excited about getting into medical school in the future so, she can become a dermatologist. It was just a career where I think I would be able to excel because it's something I enjoy doing, said Valle. Aside from her community, Valle says she wants to take care of her family, especially her three younger sisters, especially now, after her father passed away. He recently passed away in early March, which was really hard, said Valle.

SAN ANTONIO – A dangerous 8,000 mile journey from a war torn country in Africa ends on San Antonio’s West Side. Erik Kamanzi and his family started in the democratic republic of Congo and now Erik is graduating from KIPP University Prep School way for college in the fall. “I’m a refugee from Congo to Tanzania, yeah, I came here 2010 to San Antonio,” Apolina Kulimushi, Erik’s mom, said. Rawanda and Congo fighting. But like, just what she’s done by herself as a single parent, is like just out of this world, crazy.” Erik Kamanzi said.

Years later he’s ready to graduate and cross the stage to receive his diploma from East Central High School as an exemplarily student. After recovering, he used his determination and work ethic to make himself a standout student at East Central High School. “He is the model of what we want for every student at Central,” Shane McKay, principal of East Central High School said. Mitchel Martinez, great graduate 2020 image. “I have to thank the high school and the Alamo academies and my step mom, my dad, everyone that supported me,” Mitchel said.

SAN ANTONIO Wrestling, football and soccer are some of the sports that Clemens High School senior Jackson Macias has excelled in. He has also been a leader in the Air Force JROTC program for four years. But then I got the acceptance into the Air Force Academy and the excitement from it was enough to tell me thats where I wanted to go, Jackson said. His father graduated from the Academy and his sister Hailee Macias just finished her four years. Hailee says what she most respects about Jackson is his extreme work ethic, which she says landed him his opportunities.

SAN ANTONIO Natalie Castillo is the valedictorian of her class at Brackenridge High School, but she is looking forward to attending the University of Texas at Austin in the fall to pursue a degree in management information systems. I say the three top people I look up to would be Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Sergey Brin. Hes the co-founder of Google, said Castillo. I think its pretty known that women havent been represented in these fields, in like high positions, in high amount of influence like these individuals have, said Castillo. And, I think that separates her from her peers.Great Graduates 2020: Nicolas Rios

SAN ANTONIO Travis Early College High School graduating senior Nicolas Rios is looking forward to attending Johns Hopkins University in the fall. I always thought it was good helping people, especially, you know, if they have some type of ailments, said Rios. He mentors his classmates and he also created a study guide for the San Antonio College Course, Pre-Calculus. I was in charge of all the lights and sound throughout the haunted house, said Rios. I dressed up like the Joker and its pretty fun to get to see the haunted house actually work and come to life.

SAN ANTONIO – Big goals and a positive attitude, that’s how Alex Kubon said he was able to achieve a major milestone that helped him standout to several universities. Kubon is graduating in the top ten of his senior class at NISD’s Communications Arts High School and was accepted to both Trinity University and Purdue University. But I thought you can’t have self-doubt in your head like that when you’re twelve years old and you’re trying to do something,” he said. “I’m going to Purdue University and I’ll be majoring in data science,” he said. With his skills and a future degree from Purdue, thats what Alex hopes to do for an analytics department of a major league baseball team.

Published: May 22, 2020, 9:16 am Updated: May 22, 2020, 9:22 amSAN ANTONIO – As if being a senior in high school during the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t hard enough, imagine being the one leading your class as valedictorian. That’s the case for, Emily Hofmann. Despite the life challenges that have come her way, Emily is just one of hundreds of graduates from East Central High School looking forward to attending college. She plans to become a cardiac doctor, eventually hoping to return to the very same hospital that she had open heart surgery as a baby. Before the class of 2020 moves on to the next phase of their lives, she shared a few words of advice.

Published: May 20, 2020, 1:05 pm Updated: June 5, 2020, 11:31 amSAN ANTONIO – KSAT12 wants to highlight your high school graduates! Give your graduate a shout-out in our community galleries on ksat.com for a chance to be featured on a newscast.

Caitlin Vela-Mota of the North East Independent School District has exemplified academic prowess and perseverance and is now a KSAT12 2020 Great Graduate. “I was so happy, because I was actually losing hope at that time,” graduating senior Vela-Mota said about the moment she learned she was getting a special award. Vela-Mota received a scholarship for homeless youth and part of that award is a trip to Washington DC. Great Graduate 2020: Caitlin Vela-Mota (KSAT)“It was a healthy distraction for me and an escape and the best way I can get accepted or even go is to make sure that I am a good candidate,” Vela-Mota said. Caitlin currently has a home with a family she calls her godparents and the sky for her now has no limits.

SAN ANTONIO – It’s been an interesting school year for students in San Antonio -- especially graduating seniors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kaylee Burgess is a senior at Taft High School and she said she is excited about heading to Harvard in the fall. It’s super exciting,” said Burgess. “It was really exciting to be able to tell everyone, so my mom cried, my closest teachers, they also cried,” said Burgess. “They were super happy for me.”“Kaylee is a very bright student, but she’s a very humble person as well,” said Taft High School Principal Marti Cortinas-Fernandez.

SAN ANTONIO – The class of 2020 is graduating in the face of unique challenges this year and in our Great Graduates series we feature outstanding graduates from across the city. Jewel Medel is the valedictorian at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy. Medel is in the National Honor Society, the Young Poet’ Society, volleyball, basketball and track and field and she’s received a full scholarship to Brown University. I want her to know if I can do it, she can do it.”Michelle Grajeda is an AP and dual credit instructor at SAISD’s Young Women’s Leadership Academy. Grajeda has been Medel’s instructor for four different courses over the past 4 years and also heads the Young Poet’s society.