Leon, Arias, Zinniger and Hanson named Students of the Month

Eric Leon, Ariana Arias and Joshua Zinniger of Fallbrook High School and Kelssea Hanson of Oasis High School were honored as the Students of the Month for February at the Student of the Month Breakfast at North Coast Church, Feb. 7.

Nominated by Cindy Riley and Chaila Archuleta-Moya, Eric Leon was honored first.

“He’s always had this quiet, intelligent presence, just kind of a deep patience, such a great listener, intellectual curiosity,” Riley said of Leon. “Recently he served as a tutor in one of my English 10 classes and it was really remarkable to see him work with young people. The way that quiet presence inspired them to step up. Younger kids do look up to these Students of the Month.”

“I can’t even put it into words, but he’s so polite and so willing to work and help others,” said Archuleta-Moya. “One of the things I like about Eric is he likes to be challenged. He’s up for any challenge. This semester he’s tutoring our AVID students and I know he’s finding joy in that.”

Leon thanked his teachers and counselors for helping him in his academic journey.

“They’ve been very, very significant to me being here,” he said. “I’ve had a passion for helping people and leading people. My passion comes from helping others. Whatever it is that I do, you will see me have a smile because others have a smile. That’s my motivation in life.”

Leon plans to major in business and minor in political science in college.

“My goal is to bring society together,” Leon said. “My desire is to see people bond together and I believe if we want peace among each other then we have to have connections with each other.”

Arias was nominated by Stephen Scheidel and Alana Milton.

“When Ari was my senior class vice president this year, I had pretty high expectations for her,” Milton said. “What she’s done is blow those expectations out of the water and she’s created her own little niche in my world.

“Ari is very quiet; she’s very humble; she will never brag about what she does. The only reason I find out things that she does outside of class is that others tell me.”

“Every day I got a consistent effort from Arianna,” Scheidel said. “She is a teacher’s dream to work with because there was no fight with, ‘Ah, did you get your work done?’ She just did it and that effort just really, really pays off.”

“I'm so proud of you, honey, for the young lady that you are, your confidence, your caring nature makes me very happy and proud of you,” Arianna’s mother, Ana Arias, said. “I'm so excited to see all the greatness that you have in your heart and all of the greatness and everything that awaits for you in the future.”

Arias thanked the committee for their hard work in putting on the event and told the audience she plans to pursue her dream of becoming a pediatrician.

Joshua Zinniger was nominated by Jacob Bagnell.

Bagnell talked about the paper he gives to nominees to write about things they are proud of. Zinniger wrote down that he’s the vice president of Skills USA and platoon sergeant of the campus’ ROTC program.

“But then it started getting to really cool stuff,” Bagnell said. “So, for instance one of the things he's proud of in high school is that he was helping other kids succeed, making new friends in all of his classes, helping out with the community after the Lilac fire. They went out and helped with cleanup, putting others needs in front of his own. That's a high school kid saying what he's proud of in high school, learning new techniques to things I already know, opening myself up to new ideas using creativity and make others laugh and smile and teaching others new ways to do things.

“His proudest moments in high school are making other people smile and helping other people.”

“I think that college isn't for everybody and I really think we're fortunate at Fallbrook High to have these programs where students can learn a trade like metal shop and welding and CAD engineering and ROTC,” said Josh’s father, Michael Zinniger. “It's really turned my son's life around and he's found a passion and he's already got a job in the community because of that. I'm just really proud of Josh and the turnaround he's had; he's just the happy-go-lucky kid and he’s apparently popular.”

Zinneger congratulated the other students of the month, the committee, his teachers and family and friends for the support.

“Everybody that’s helped me in getting here and starting this new career path,” he said. “I hope everybody gets to have that with their life.”

Bennielyn Verrett nominated Hanson.

“One of the joys of being a teacher and being an educator is to be able to see students grow,” Verrett said. “To see them just strive and succeed and do their best this is one of those young ladies that’s standing right here in front of you.

“Most of all, Kelssea is just a great person. She has a heart for others, she is very committed to her work, her tasks, she really tries the best that she can in everything that she does.”

After she graduates, Hanson plans to attend Palomar College to complete her general education and then move on to college.

“I'd like to go to college and get a career path in interior design or architecture,” Hanson said. “It's always been a really big thing that I wanted to go into, it’s always interested me. It’s what I want to do with my life; thank you guys again.”