Holmes, Suarez recipients of Legionnaire Award

Bonsall High School annually presents a Legionnaire Award to two seniors, and the Class of 2021 recipients are Marlon Holmes and Joana Suarez.

"The Legionnaire is an award we give to two of our seniors who during their time at the high school have shown that they really typify the traits that we want," said Bonsall High School principal Jason Fowler.

The criteria includes work ethic and leadership. "These were the kids who consistently were mentioned by the entire staff," Fowler said.

"It's an honor," Holmes said. "It's honestly not an award I was expecting to get."

"I definitely feel really proud and honored," Suarez said. "I didn't expect to receive any award or recognition."

Suarez had a grade point average of 4.36 and Holmes had a 3.986 GPA. "Both of them were top students," Fowler said.

Holmes was born in San Diego and lived in Vista during his earliest years. His family moved to Bonsall when he was 4. He attended Bonsall Elementary School and Sullivan Middle School prior to his four years at Bonsall High School.

"Marlon was one of those guys that really will give it all for you. He's always willing to drop everything and help out," Fowler said. "He's always supportive of others, always the first one to help someone."

Holmes was in the Bonsall High School dance group, and he was also involved in dance during middle school. He was also in Musical Theater, and his 10th-grade Musical Theater class with Stacy Pecore was his favorite Bonsall High School class. "I made a lot of really fun, really unbelievable memories in that class," Holmes said.

His performing arts activities were the extent of Holmes' extracurricular involvement at the high school. "I haven't really participated in many activities," he said.

The Legionnaire Award criteria covers classroom leadership as well as extracurriculars. "I led a lot of group projects," Holmes said. "I most of the time got picked to be the group project leader."

That was sufficient for him to be chosen for the Legionnaire Award. "I was genuinely surprised that I won that," Holmes said.

Holmes has numerous positive memories of his Bonsall High School years. "I don't think I can pinpoint one favorite memory," he said.

A field trip to Safari Park when Holmes was a sophomore stands out. "Tenth grade was really a good year for me in terms of making memories," he said.

Tenth grade was also Holmes' final full year on campus, as the coronavirus outbreak caused a switch to remote education in March 2020.

Suarez was born in Escondido, spent much of her early childhood in Texas, moved to San Marcos when she was in fourth grade, and moved to Bonsall as a fifth-grader where she enrolled in Bonsall Elementary School.

The grade point average system provides an extra point for an advanced class. "I'm taking a lot of Palomar College classes," Suarez said.

Suarez played basketball for the Legionnaires, and she was also involved in musical theater. She has also been involved in the school's Associated Student Body and was the ASB president for her senior year.

"Joana really works hard," Fowler said. "Even with all the challenges that COVID brought around she was always really active."

During the coronavirus restrictions, Suarez put together distance activities on behalf of the ASB. "What's important to Joana is that people keep strong relationships," Fowler said.

The relationships with teachers and friends are what Suarez considers her favorite Bonsall High School memory. She also has fond memories of many of her classes. "Just getting the opportunity to have a lot of project-based learning activities," she said.

The projects included building a Rube Goldberg machine in Danny Costa's World History class, although the project was actually a role playing game for World War II events rather than the typical Rube Goldberg contraption to transport an object. That was Suarez's favorite class at Bonsall High School.

Suarez was also involved in efforts to provide school funding for the Bonsall Unified School District. She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and has also held church leadership positions. She also played Mary's mother in the church play "Savior of the World" which was attended by more than 2,000 people.

In addition to her unpaid activities, Suarez has worked for In-N-Out Burger in Oceanside for four years, and in February she took a position at Casa Estrella in Fallbrook.

She expressed gratitude to her mother for her success. "I think she taught me my work ethic for sure," Suarez said.

Holmes will continue his education at cosmetology school, likely Paul Mitchell the School in Temecula. "I want to go into hair styling and cutting and coloring," he said.

"I'm really glad I chose Bonsall High School," Holmes said. "I'm happy with the way things have turned out, and I'm excited for the future."

Suarez has a full scholarship at Brigham Young University. "I'm excited to go there," she said.

Although she cannot become an official nursing major until her junior year, Suarez plans on that major and hopes to become a midwife.