On Monday, May 18, SBHS seniors assembled by the flagpole to honor top scholars from each school program and subject. Organized by Spencer Barr, said the Top Dons are the students who were “hand-picked by the teachers who have watched them grow.” These teachers chose these students and said, “This one deserves to be celebrated.”
The event started with a brief speech from Barr and was followed by specific honorary speeches. The speeches recognized the students for their individual strengths and the connection between the honoree and the honored. After the ceremony, there was a reception organized by the SBHS Alumni Association for the honored seniors.
Starting with Jocelyn Pineda Toboada, who was honored by Dyana Castro for the special education program. Also in the special education program was Angel Guillen, honored by Todd Goodlett, and Kaianna (Kiki) Zertuche, honored by Kory Rapanut. In the vocal music program, the Top Don was Jolene Linder Pulliam, honored by Mary La Face. Following Jolene was Pablo Villagomez Taboado by Beth Goldman for dance, and then Fátima Razo Granados by Nancy Posner for world languages. Then Galilea Aguilera by Maria Rivera for sports medicine, Dane Polchin by Elayne Blessing for math, and by John Keogh for athletics, specifically lacrosse. For AVID, Miranda Jue honored Daana Hernandez, and Michelle Jerez honored Mia Ronces. For interpretation and translation, Yuliana Lopez was honored by Alison Mendoza, which was followed by theater. Gioia Marchese honored the theater Top Dons, Mel Barron and Bennett Giesbrecht. The Don for instrumental music was Joseph Nevarez, honored by Tyler Ravelli. Nevarez stayed on stage to be honored for English by Patricia Ruth. For computer science, Simon Rencher was honored by Kyle Stewart, and for business, Belle Olivera was honored by Steve Schuck; however, Schuck could not attend the ceremony. For construction tech, Leo Brownstein was honored by Jimmy Witherell, followed by the VADA academy’s honoree, Presley Krintzman, who was honored by Daniel Barnett. Both Nicole Buist and Rocio Vejar Montor received the Top Don honor speech from Laura Wooster for ASB. Rocio was brought back to the stage to be honored for ethnic studies by Miranda Vasquez, who could not attend the ceremony. Science’s top Don was William (Liam) Hickey, by Zachary Lotze, and PE’s top Don was Samuel Neri Deloya, who couldn’t attend the ceremony but was still honored by Joe Chenoweth. For the MAD Academy, Shea Peinado and Patrick Estrada honored Genevieve Mack and Max Lorenz.
The Forge Newspaper advisor, Joanne Cloutier, proudly honored Top Dons, Camila Garcia-Otero and Ember Reiter. Garcia-Otero is currently the features editor and has been with The Forge for all four years of high school. She will be heading off to Santa Barbara City College in the fall to study psychology. Reiter is the current sports editor and social media manager. She has been on The Forge for the past three years and will be attending the University of Southern California in the fall to major in dramatic arts.
Along with The Forge Newspaper’s Top Dons, Joanne Cloutier also honored Angie Pacheco and Ashley Mendoza for the Olive & Gold yearbook. Blake Johnson was honored by Tanner Stark for social studies, and Maykin Carranza Hernandez was honored by Lianette Santana for the emergent multilingual learner Top Don. The ceremony concluded with Gisela Zavala honored by Anne Gott for culinary and Yadira Soriano Miguel honored by Julia Elliott for art.
Barr said the Top Dons recognition is “not about GPA, test scores, or perfect attendance. It’s about students who found something they love and went all in.”
Congratulations to the Top Dons of 2026!
