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March 28, 2024 12:26 pm
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A Spotlight On The Top Of The Class For MVHS 2017

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Moapa Valley High School will be honoring two valedictorians and one salutatorian during its 2017 Commencement Exercises on June 9 at 7pm.
The term valedictorian was historically bestowed upon the person chosen to give a closing or farewell statement at graduation, known as a valediction. The salutatorian, on the other hand, gave the beginning address, or the salutation.
But though the students to receive these honors are chosen in different ways around the world, in the United States the honor is traditionally given to those with the highest GPA and the second highest GPA of the graduating class.
The MVHS class of 2017’s valedictorians are Daesha Stastny and Chase Kruse. The salutatorian is Taylor Shiozawa.

2017 MVHS Valedictorian
Daesha Stastny

Daesha Stastny
In addition to excelling in the classroom, Daesha Stastny has spent her four years at MVHS as a force to be reckoned with on the softball field. During that time she has been an important member of the varsity softball team and has also played club softball year-round in Las Vegas.
“Softball has pretty much been my life for the past four years,” Daesha said. “But I love it. It’s fun.”
When not playing softball, Daesha says she really enjoyed many of her classes at MVHS. “I really loved my math classes,” she said. “I took 6 years of math, including AP Stats and AP Calculus. I love Mrs. Fulmer as a teacher. She is really awesome.”
In addition to math, Daesha says she also loves writing. In particular, she loved her English 101 and 102 writing classes this year.

With this love for both math and writing, Daesha had to search a bit to find the perfect post-high school field of study. But with some effort she believes she has found it.
Daesha plans to attend University of Utah on a full-ride scholarship as a member of their honors college beginning this fall. She plans to study marketing.
“I really love math and I think it is fun to analyze things,” she said. “But I’m also really creative and like to write. So I figure marketing is perfect because it combines both of these into one field of study. I’m really excited.”

Daesha is the daughter of John and Desi Stastny of Logandale, and is the oldest of three children and one dog. When asked which of her siblings was her favorite, she laughingly replied, “The dog, of course.”

2017 MVHS Valedictorian Chase Kruse

Chase Kruse
Chase Kruse has also been extremely involved at MVHS during his time there. He has served as a member of Student Council for 3 years, including serving as this year’s student body president.
Chase was also a member of National Honor Society, serving this year as their blood drive coordinator. He is also a member in the MVHS Spanish Honor Society.
Chase also enjoyed sports and was involved in many while at MVHS. He played basketball for all 4 years, tennis for 3 years, golf for 2 years, and baseball for 1 year.

In addition to sports, he was a member of the Eco Squad, serving as historian, and FFA for 1 year.
One of his favorite activities was being chosen as one of the first students on CCSD’s Student Advisory Committee. For two years he got to meet and talk with school board members and other school leaders in the position.
Chase says he really enjoyed his classes at MVHS. He said that some of his favorites have been welding, AP World History, Pre-Calculus, and English 101. But he said that his very favorite class/subject had to be Spanish.
“I just really love Spanish,” he said. “I loved learning it so much that I took 5 years of it. I love everything about it. It’s just so much fun.”

In addition to enjoying his classes, some of Chase’s other favorite memories from the past year were winning the United Blood Services blood drive contest, which came with a prize of $1500 for the National Honor Society; winning student body president; playing in the state golf tournament; and going to regionals in tennis.
Another favorite memory was receiving many scholarships at the senior awards nights.
“I didn’t get any money from UNLV because I applied too late,” Chase said. “But I got so many private scholarships that it covered almost all 4 years of my school. It was really awesome.”

Chase plans on attending UNLV in the fall as a member of their honors college. He plans to major in biology and minor in business with the goal of going to dental school and eventually specializing in orthodontics. He has a hope of being able to come back and go into practice in Logandale and take a turn giving back to the community.
“I really want to thank everyone that’s helped me get where I am,” Chase said. “Without the great teachers, administration, family, and friends I have, I wouldn’t be here. I had an awesome time at MVHS and am really looking forward to college. I’ll have to see where it takes me.”
Chase is the son of Eric and Teresa Kruse and has one older brother.

2017 MVHS Salutatorian Taylor Shiozawa

Taylor Shiozawa
Taylor Shiozawa is this year’s salutatorian and has had a great four years at MVHS as well.
Taylor was involved in many activities during his high school days. He performed for three years in MVHS jazz band, playing the saxophone for two and the piano for one. Taylor was also a member of National Honor Society and served on the student council as the Assemblies Chairman this year.
Taylor was also very involved in sports. He played football for four years, swimming for two, baseball for two, and ran track for one year.

Taylor has also been an active member of Boy Scouts and has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
Taylor has had many great experiences over the last four years. His favorite classes include his construction classes and science classes; especially biology.
He has loved his extra-curricular activities as well. He said, “I have really enjoyed all the sports I’ve got to participate in, especially football. In fact, I really loved all the school activities I was in.”
Taylor has been accepted at BYU and will be attending there beginning in two years. He plans to follow his love of science with a goal of ending up in the medical field or in computer science.
Before college, however, Taylor will be leaving in July to serve a 2-year mission for the LDS church in Salem, Oregon. He is very excited about this opportunity.
“High school was a lot of fun and I’m going to miss my teachers, family, and all the friends I’ve made,” he said. I’m ready to move on, though, and am really looking forward to the next step.”

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