Board celebrates student representatives and dozens of award winners from across the district

The Apple Valley Unified School District board devoted the opening of its meeting to recognizing student leadership and achievement across the district. Superintendent Nelson introduced outgoing student representatives and each honored student took a few minutes at the podium to describe recent school events, achievements and next steps.

Outgoing student representatives included Jaden Oligi of High Desert Premier Academy, Jill Rodriguez of Granite Hills High School and Effie Avula of Apple Valley High School. Oligi recounted senior activities and thanked district staff; Rodriguez highlighted recent testing gains and athletic success; Avula delivered a reflective final address that thanked family and staff and encouraged pride in school programs, saying, “Sunundevil pride is contagious.”

The board also celebrated a long list of student awardees. District staff read winners in the STEAM fair, State Seal of Civic Engagement recipients, English learner awards, and numerous SkillsUSA state gold-medalists who will attend national competition. The meeting recognized FFA winners, Mountain Desert Career Pathways (MDCP) competition medalists (including welding and construction teams), a county spelling-bee finalist, hackathon and film-festival participants, and students selected as CTE ambassadors.

Trustees and administrators repeatedly thanked families, school staff and community partners for supporting student opportunities; principals and program leads presented certificates and groups moved to the front for photos. The superintendent and board encouraged the new student representatives — Michaela Corona (High Desert), Taylor Rasque (Granite Hills), and Brin/Brendan Chidik (Apple Valley) — and welcomed them to report at future meetings.

The recognition segment ran roughly the first half of the meeting and set a ceremonial tone before the board recessed, entered closed session and resumed to complete business.