In the first year of relative normality since the pandemic hit, Permian High School celebrated its top 10 students Wednesday with breakfast.
“When you think of this being the top 1% of our student body, academic wise, it’s truly an accomplishment. And we’re just honored to be able to take a moment to celebrate them all,” Principal Delesa Styles said.
Permian feted them last year in February, but there were sub-freezing temperatures at the time.
“So we were thankful this year to be able to have it a little bit later,” Styles said.
PHS Top 10
1. Swetha Kesavan
2. Jonathan Martinez
3. Dhruvkumar Patel
4. Joaquin Armendariz
5. Paula Garcia
6. Nydia Brito
7. Isabella GarZA
8. Angel Luna
9. Connor Hanish
10. Alvin Lin
This is the most normal year since COVID-19, but Styles said the students are still affected.
“They’ve had a full two years of their high school experience weathering the after-effects of COVID. We are mindful of every opportunity to try to make up for lost time and celebrating their accomplishments because so much of their experience was remote. It’s a very limited time of their lives and we don’t get a chance to recapture that so you’ll see different events this spring honoring them, such as signing day in May,” Styles said.
Each of the top 10 received a yard sign with their photo and other gifts. They also all had their photos taken against a PHS backdrop.
Swetha Kesavan, the 18-year-old valedictorian of the class, will be heading to Rice University to major in biochemistry or possibly the medical field.
Kesavan said it’s a huge honor to be the top student in her class. Her sister, Sneha, was the salutatorian last year.
“I’ve worked hard for the past four years. It’s just shown that all the work I’ve done has led to such a huge accomplishment,” Kesavan said.
Previously, she said she and salutatorian Jonathan Martinez, didn’t have many classes together, but they were nice to each other.
Kesavan is the president of the Permian Orchestra. She has been part of Satin Strings and Symphony Orchestra, the varsity ensembles, for three years. Additionally, she is the president of Business Professionals of America. She also started a science club this year.
Her experiment will be sent to the International Space Station in October on a SpaceX rocket.
Kesavan said her science sponsor helped her through the process and to write the research paper.
“It’s just really deserving and really nice of them to help me through this process,” Kesavan said.
She added that Permian has helped her reach this milestone.
“The extracurriculars I’m part of made me realize that there’s more to academics and Permian allowed me to realize that and being a part of the extracurriculars helped shape who I am today,” Kesavan said.
What advice would she give to kids that want to be in the top 10 or become valedictorian?
Kesavan said she would tell students who want to reach the top ranks to work their hardest, but not to put too much stress on themselves “because at the end of the day, it doesn’t make you better. Keep on doing; just do your best and you’ll get the results that you want.”
Her parents are what inspires her to excel.
“I feel like my parents, they came here from India, and they came just to give me and my sister a really good opportunity to have a better education. Just knowing that made me want to try my hardest and seeing my sister be salutatorian last year was a very big inspiration for me. She’s always been my role model, so I just look up to her and look up to my parents’ hard work and dedication …,” Kesavan said.
She thanked all her teachers as well because she said she couldn’t have done this without them.
“They have been a huge support system and they’ve helped me do my best …,” Kesavan added.
Eighteen-year-old Jonathan Martinez said he was privileged to be the salutatorian.
Martinez plans to attend Texas A&M University and go into the medical field and ultimately become an anesthesiologist.
He added that every now and then there was a little bit of competition between he and Kesavan.
“We enjoyed it. It was fun,” Martinez said.
From his freshman year of middle school, Martinez said he was aiming to be a top student.
He said his passion and his parents drove him to do well in school. He has an older sister.
Martinez said he would advise students who want to follow in his footsteps to work hard and persevere, even when it gets tough.
“There’s always going to be ups and downs,” Martinez said.
Martinez was a captain on the varsity football team and played slot receiver and he ran varsity track.
His father, Simon Martinez, said he and Jonathan worked very hard especially during football season when there were multiple practices and games.
Simon Martinez said he was not surprised Jonathan was in the top two. From a very young age, grades and studying have been priority one for his son.
Paula Garcia, 18, ranked No. 5, said being in the top 10 was kind of surreal.
“I think it’s an honor, but also I’m really proud of myself for how hard I worked and how many challenges I overcame to get to this point,” Garcia said.
She plans to go into the pre-med program at Midland College to start.
“I’m very excited,” Garcia said.
Joaquin Armendariz, 17, is No. 4 in his class. He plans to attend Texas A&M and major in biomedical sciences.
Armendariz said his freshman year, he didn’t know he was in the top 10 until he got a transcript.
Armendariz said he has really enjoyed PHS.
“I can say that the teachers really make it enjoyable, too, when they teach in ways that are engaging to students,” he said.
Armendariz participated in Business Professionals of American and advanced to state and Academic UIL, as well. He is vice president of the National Honor Society and a member of the Hispanic NHS.
