As the San Luis Obispo high school seniors prepare to go their own ways in life and leave SLOHS behind, the real story is the current freshman class of 2025 preparing to move onto the next year. Expressions decided to interview the class first-ranked freshman Leonardo DeTurris to see what the class of 2025 has in store.

Expressions: What did you do to become class rank number one?

Freshman Leonardo DeTurris: I mainly believe the biggest thing that helped me become ranked first was that I took advantage of the opportunity to take an AP class as a freshman. Above anything else, that’s what’s put me in this position. But in addition to that GPA boost, I think another big contributor to success is having the right mindset. It’s much easier to succeed if you go to each class with the belief that what you’re learning is valuable and important. Rather than to get bogged down with stereotypes and stigma, it’s best to focus on what you enjoy about learning. By doing that, you give yourself the platform to succeed and most importantly, enjoy the classroom and school overall. Regardless of what I’m learning, I look for the good in it, glass-half full style. Your mind is an extremely powerful tool to utilize. If you change the way you perceive learning for the better, then work and homework become something you want to do, rather than something that you have to do, which is only one of numerous benefits.

Expressions: Do you think you’ll be valedictorian of the class of 2025?

DeTurris:  I feel it’s way too early to make any predictions, statements, guesses, or whatever. High school is a long period of time and many things can happen. Of course it would be great to be the next valedictorian but It’s just too early to know. There are a vast number of smart people in the class of 2025, and I’m certainly not an outlier. 

Expressions: What is it like being a part of ASB?

DeTurris: I only took the intro to leadership class this year and not the full ASB class so I wasn’t really immersed in the full ASB experience. That said, I did work alongside ASB for all of trimester two. I think the class and what we did was extremely fun and interesting. We mainly planned specific events and learned what it takes to be in a leadership position. There was never a dull moment, everyone was always doing or working on something. Work was divided into special groups and each person was a member of a group responsible for their own duties. There were the publicity people who spent 95% of their time making posters in our poster room, there were the people responsible for putting on activities during lunch roughly every week, and then there were others. To put it plainly, we did a lot of work that ASB didn’t really have time for. Mr. Johnson is also an amazing person and teacher who understands how to teach and get things accomplished. I feel that ASB is just filled with motivated and smart people who want to make a difference, being a part of which was great. 

Expressions: Do you plan on running for ASB next year?

DeTurris: Yes, I plan on running for class officer again next year. But also for the time being, I have applied to fill a commissioner position in ASB for the upcoming school year. I really want to make this campus a better place for everyone and losing one election won’t deter me.

Every year, old students leave and new students start high school, but it’s good to hear that the class of 2025 has smart and capable leaders who will better the lives of the students around them.