Leung, Montejo given Legionnaire Award

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Danika Leung and David Montejo are this year's recipients of Bonsall High School's Legionnaire Award.

The Legionnaire Award is presented to two seniors each year. The recipients do not necessarily need to be one male and one female. The award is for seniors who have demonstrated that they typify the traits Bonsall High School desires; the criteria includes work ethic and leadership as well as grade point average.

"Both of them have been amazing leaders at the school. They've worked very hard," said Bonsall High School principal Jason Fowler.

"Both of them were very active in ASB. Both of them played multiple sports. And both of them led multiple school clubs," Fowler said. "They were workhorses."

Teachers nominate students for the Legionnaire Award. "We look at each of those students and kind of compare them to each other," Fowler said.

Activities and grades are among the criteria. The Legionnaire Award criteria covers classroom leadership as well as extracurriculars. "Based upon all those factors we kind of rank them," Fowler said.

The qualifications of three or four students are brought to the teachers for consideration in a final vote.

Leung had a 4.40 grade point average while at Bonsall High School. "Danika's just a joy. She's one of those students that wants to be a part of everything," Fowler said. "She's very focused on her academics. She's a positive role model and a good friend to others."

Montejo graduated with a 4.16 grade point average. "He's a real leader among the students. He's a great role model to his peers," Fowler said. "He's a planner and he's one of those guys who recognizes that he's leaving a legacy."

Both Leung and Montejo were involved in Bonsall High School athletics. Leung played volleyball for the Legionnaires. Montejo was on Bonsall's soccer team and, when Bonsall added baseball for 2022, he became a member of the original baseball team.

Leung and Montejo both plan to attend San Diego State University.