Mission Prep celebrates Class of 2022 — brothers earn valedictorian, salutatorian honors
Mission Prep celebrated the Class of 2022 by returning graduates to the steps of Mission Plaza for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
A total of 79 students decked out in the deep blue of the San Luis Obispo private school earned their high school diplomas in the ceremony held Friday evening.
“The Class of 2022 achieved a truly remarkable level of success,” Principal Mike Susank said. “They have persevered through a global pandemic and through four demanding years of an outstanding, Catholic, college preparatory experience. They are young women and men of scholarship, inspiration and leadership; and have been formed into the embodiment of MCP’s motto: women and men for others.”
Each year, the school’s faculty and staff select female (Marian Award) and male (Serra Award) graduates who best represent the mission and values of the school.
The Marian Award recipient was Claire Haslett, who earned a grade-point average of 4.26 and will be attending Mount St. Mary’s University.
The Serra Award recipient was Jack Susank, who earned a 4.7 grade-point average and will be attending Pomona College.
Mission Prep’s valedictorian and salutatorian share a special relationship: They’re brothers.
Gautam Naik just surpassed his brother’s grade-point average, earning a 4.87. He will be attending the UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Sciences.
His brother, Shubhankar Naik, earned a 4.84 grade-point average and will be attending the same school.
Other Mission Prep high school grads expect to travel all over the country to further their educational journeys, including to schools such as John Hopkins, Notre Dame, Clemson, Syracuse and Penn State.
A total of 15 grads will attend schools in the University of California system, including five at Berkeley.
Another 10 will attend schools in the California State University system, including six at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
At least nine of the graduating students are going to pursue sports in college, one being Patrick Thomas, who signed to compete in cross country for the division 1 team at Pepperdine University.
The senior class at Mission Prep had an mean grade-point average of 3.65, with more than 40% earning above a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average.
And the students raked in a total of at least $550,000 in scholarships to colleges and universities.
“We ask our students and families to self-report these awards so that undoubtedly represents just a partial list, but it is an outstanding class which has exceeded all expectations,” Susank said.
