Ashe Student Receives Belated Honors at Special Ceremony

By Ron Fitzwater

A very happy collection of educators, school administrators and former students came together in the conference room at Ashe County High School on Tuesday, July 28, for an overdue, but much deserved, awards ceremony for 2009 ACHS co-Salutatorian Gabriela "Gabby" Mendieta.

According to school administrators, a mathematical error occurred at the end of the year that failed to indicate that Mendieta was, as Principal Phil Howell put it, "solidly in the Salutatorian range" with fellow co-Salutatorian Courtney Camp.

"The error occurred in the midst of a transition with the school's new data management system and a rare instance of human error occurred," said School Counselor Annette Bednosky.

"While we can't go back in time and make things be the way we want them to have been, we do want to really honor her and what she accomplished," she added.

Honor her they did before her very proud parents, Maria and Scott Boczon.

"Today is a celebration for Gabby and what she has accomplished," said Howell.

Before making the formal presentation of her awards, Bednosky read a short motivational piece called The Meaning of Life from the book It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It by Robert Fulghum.

Following Bednosky's reading, Howell began the formal presentation of items, which included the Salutatorian medal, a plaque and an individual commemorative diploma. There was more for the student though as Howell, who sounded a bit like a game show host with a winning contestant, presented Mendieta with a personally monogrammed ACHS Pullover jacket that Howell said was normally reserved for special school visitors such as politicians and a $100 gift certificate to the New York University college book store. Mendieta has been accepted to NYU for the fall 2009 semester.

Mendieta's accomplishments are a special source of pride to her mother, who was beaming during the ceremony.

Boczon, who had to leave Mendieta with family when she came from her native Nicaragua looking for a better future for them, said she was so very proud of her daughter.

"With all the changes that she had been through in her childhood, her story could have been very different, but it was her overcoming those experiences that has made her the success she is," said Boczon.

Coming to America when she was four-years-old, Mendieta was unable to speak English when she arrived but less than a year later, due to instruction in pre-school, Mendieta was speaking the language fluently. It was then that her mother saw that she was eager and able to learn and put her on the road to academics.

"I told Gabby all you need to be is a student. I wanted her to achieve all she was capable of."

Boczon said that her daughter's success was not surprising to her.

"Gabby has just been a wonderful child; the most special child I could ever have hoped for. She has been an honor student since kindergarten."

Mendieta said of the day's events, "this was much better than receiving recognition at graduation because all my friends could be a part of it," and she will take that good feeling into the Big Apple next month.

With acceptance letters from UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State, New York University and Fordham University in hand, and deciding to withdraw her application to Columbia University, it is to Manhattan and NYU that Mendieta is headed with her eyes set on the fashion industry. But it isn't to the runway or the artist's table that she is headed but to someplace a bit more grounded, a trait she is well known to have.

"Going to college has always been a big focus for me," said Mendieta. "Also, I have always really liked school and it was instilled in me by my mom to do good and put school first.

"I hope to do something in the fashion industry and hopefully work internationally. I decided on the business end of the industry because I want to have more to do with the behind the scenes way things get accomplished, and I really like math," she said.

The degree that Mendieta is going after is a four-year bachelor's but she hopes to go on to earn her masters degree as well.

Peers and counselors alike agree that Mendieta will succeed and Bednosky said, "Gabby is the perfect combination of genuine sweetness and toughness, that will make her a force to reckon with. They may look at her in New York and think she is too nice but if they test her they will find fierceness underneath.

"Her getting into NYU is proof of her abilities," said Bednosky. "She will experience a little culture shock at first but she will blossom there. She knows what she wants and she goes after it, but doesn't burn bridges in the process."

Mandeita has promised not to forget her friends and Ashe County when she makes it big in the city, and they all will be waiting for her triumphant return home.