2019 4.0 Club Awards Ceremony
Every Spring we celebrate our hardworking YMCO students who have maintained a GPA of 4.0 or higher during the academic school year through a delicious dinner and extravagant awards ceremony.
On April 5th, 22 YMCO students were inducted into the 2019 4.0 Club at a stirring ceremony, held at the Berkeley City Club. Among the 22 were 5 seniors who set the standards with outstanding grades. Jerry Okina and Taijee Shavers were both tied with a 4.67 GPA, and Giovanni Garcia came in close behind with a 4.52 GPA. Paulos
Thomas scored the highest SAT score with 1560.
Scroll down for more photos from out 2019 4.0 Club Dinner!
2019 YMCO 4.0 Club Inductees
Pictured below (from left to rights): Top row- Haile Rosengren (viola), Erma Espinueva (soprano voice, viola, piano), Raymond Smith (alto saxophone, violin), Rachel White (violin), Jerry Okina (trombone), Giovanni Garcia (trumpet), Taijee Shavers (baritone saxophone, clarinet, bassoon), Paulos Thomas (tenor saxophone), Renata Volchinskaya (violin), Quincy Schreiber (trombone, flute), Gus Goldstone (trombone, trumpet, tuba), Heriberto Velez, Jr. (bassoon, baritone saxophone). Bottom row- Nathan Uy (violin), Kieran Bracken-Serra (percussion), Ginnia Liu (violin), Alyssa Tan (soprano voice, violin), Fernanda Rosales (soprano voice, violin), Alondra Pacas (violin), Tipkins Hood (double-bass, electric bass), Lucila de Anda ((double-bass, electric bass, piano). Not pictured: Emilio Bracken-Serra (trumpet), Khristle Jordan (soprano voice, violin).
YMCO Student of the Year Award
Our 2019 YMCO Student of the Year Award went to Giovanni Garcia (trumpet) for his recognition of his excellence in leadership, academics, music, and citizenship over the past 7 years of service. Giovanni was always the first one to take initiative and help out others, especially when it came to the younger trumpet players who look up to him as a role model. He is an all-around superstar, and we are excited for him to begin his journey this fall as a Cal Bear!
"Top Gun" Awards
Our "Top Gun" Awards go to the students with the highest GPA and the highest SAT score. This year, our "Top Gun GPA" Award went to two seniors who were both tied with a 4.67 GPA. Jerry Okina (trombone) will be attending Northwestern University on an $80,000/year scholarship, and Taijee Shavers (baritone sax, clarinet, bassoon) will be attending the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. Our "Top Gun SAT" Award went to Paulos (tenor saxophone), who scored 1560. He will be attending Yale on a full scholarship.
The Dinner
Our guests were treated to a performance from the YMCO Jazz Big Band as they enjoyed their dinner and dessert. More than half of the YMCO Jazz Big Band members were inducted into the 2019 4.0 Club, four of which took home all of the special awards.
