Among the first questions Harvard-bound scholar Caitlyn Gonzalez typically gets is: “How did you do it?” The answer is always the same. “Well, my family always emphasized education,” says Gonzalez, a 17-year-old Vacaville High School senior who graduates today. During an interview earlier this week, Gonzalez, the top valedictorian with a 4.
76 GPA at the West Monte Vista Avenue campus, says her mother, Alicia, hails from El Salvador and is a teacher’s assistant at Hemlock Elementary in Vacaville. Her father, Jose Luis, a graduate of Caifornia State Polytechnic University-Pomona, is a tax specialist for the state of California. But much of Gonzalez’s success comes from personal choices, personal qualities and old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness.
“From a young age, I’ve always been self-disciplined,” she said during a telephone call. “Discipline gets you a lot farther than motivation. Throughout high school, I slept four hours a night and made a lot of sacrifices.
And throughout, I had confidence that it would work out.” Gonzalez’s goal since fourth grade has been to attend an Ivy League school. “During my freshman year, I made a game plan,” she said.
The plan include national honors and awards, among them Miss National American Teen and Collegiate. During recent past summers, Gonzalez studied engineering in Silicon Valley, the South Bay region that is the global center for high technology and innovation. She also studied aerospace engineering and comput.
