Academic excellence is not easily forgotten in Cathedral City where two high-school achievers saw street signs renamed in their honor on Thursday.
For the next year, these signs will recognize Priscila Marquez and Landon Kuykendall, students of Cathedral City High School and Mount San Jacinto High School respectively, Cathedral City Communications & Events Manager Ryan Hunt said in a news release. It is at the location of each of these schools that the new street signs can be found.
Every year, Cathedral City honors students in this way as part of the city's Annual Student Street Naming Ceremony, and this year the ceremony fell on June 1.
"You know, recognizing student achievement and what they put into their lives at this young age is a great predictor of what they're going to do for the future," Mayor Rita Lamb said in a NBC Palm Springs article about the ceremony. The chosen students have demonstrated academic strength that might prove the mayor correct.
As she plans to pursue a STEM career, Marquez is off to a good start with a $50,000 scholarship from Southern California Edison as one of 30 Edison Scholars. In February, the mayor and city council presented Marquez with a Certificate of Recognition at the Taste of Jalisco Festival, which was followed by the Mayor's Award in May.
Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic that almost derailed his progress, Kuykendall retained a 4.0 GPA each quarter at Mt. San Jacinto High School, according to the city release. The pandemic's independent learning model discouraged Kuykendall and impacted his credits. But he excelled with a second chance at Mt. San Jacinto and now is an early enrollee at College of the Desert, the release said. Inspired by an employment opportunity with a family friend, he enrolled in the Heating & Air Conditioning program at Mt. San Jacinto, where he graduated early in December, and is continuing that same course of study with the idea of working in the field.