White earns BHS Valedictorian, Roback takes Salutatorian

Jay White earned the honor as the Class of 2021 Bonsall High School Valedictorian while Jeffrey Roback took salutatorian honors.

White compiled a grade point average of 4.4545 during his first seven semesters at Bonsall High School. Roback had a grade point average of 4.4054 not including his final semester.

White is planning to continue his academic career at the University of California, San Diego and will at least initially pursue a philosophy major. "He has done everything to be able to keep his grades at the highest caliber, always challenged himself," said Bonsall High School Principal Jason Fowler. "Really kind of done a lot to make sure he stayed on top."

The coronavirus outbreak in March 2020 caused Bonsall High School to transition to distance learning. "Jay has been one of those students that stayed connected," Fowler said.

Distance learning allowed Roback to be eligible for the Salutatorian recognition. The Valedictorian and Salutatorian eligibility requirements include being a Bonsall High School student for at least the final six semesters of high school. Roback's father, Mark, retired from the Navy after 31 years. Their Fallbrook house was put on the market, and the plans to move to South Carolina were accelerated when the house sold sooner than expected. The family left in early May, but Roback continued his on-line learning as a Bonsall High School student.

"I've stayed on line," Roback said. "I was still attending classes and doing work."

Roback spent just over five semesters attending Bonsall High School as well as taking Palomar College classes at the school. "I did it in person until the COVID lockdown," he said.

"Even though distance learning is not for everybody, it hasn't been a factor in his grade point average," Fowler said.

"He was able to complete most of his year here," Fowler said. "He's been doing well keeping up with everything."

Both of Roback's parents are retired from the Navy. He was born on Dec. 1, 2002, in Okinawa and was approximately 1 1/2 years old when he moved to San Diego County. He attended Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade prior to his four years at – if not electronically connected to – Bonsall High School.

A B+ from his tenth-grade Spanish teacher was the only blemish on Roback's grades. "He expected us to know a lot more than we knew," Roback said.

Roback considers his calculus class taught by Dominic Svatos to have been his favorite Bonsall High class. His favorite Bonsall High memories are being with his friends and the speech and debate competitions he had. In addition to being on Bonsall's speech and debate team, Roback was also on the Legionnaires' tennis team. He began playing tennis in 2011 and also participated in U.S. Tennis Association tournaments.

Virginia Tech has already accepted Roback, who will be pursuing an aerospace engineering major and hopes to work in that field. He is currently on the Georgia Tech waitlist for admission.

Editor's note: Jay White did not respond to requests for an interview.