By Rylie Friesen-
The San Juan Alumni Association last week awarded $47,000 in scholarships to this year’s graduates of San Juan High School.
The scholarships, ranging from academic to athletic awards, were given on May 27th virtually. The San Juan Alumni Association (SJAA) has given out the awards since it was formed in 1980.
Larry Fritz, the SJAA’s vice president, said around two-dozen students have typically applied for the scholarship and 16-18 would be selected, but this year the Alumni Association decided to “up its game” and award any qualified senior with the award.
This year, 29 graduating seniors qualified for the scholarship out of 125 graduates, with scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. To qualify, students must have attended San Juan for at least 2 years, earned at least a 2.5 GPA, and also signed an application.
Here are the 2021 recipients:
Aleksandr Karpenko: $2,000
Allison Torres Diaz: $1,000
Carmen Saguilan: $5,000
Chanikarn (Teen) Putson: $5,000
Christian Vela Pasillas: $1,000
Edwin Perez Sanchez: $2,000
Ekaterina Krestinskaia: $2,000
Erica Orozco-Garcia: $1,000
Itzel Gonzalez Noriega: $1,000
Jacqueline Rodriguez: $2,000
Jose Farfan-Reynosa: $1,000
Jose Marceleno: $1,000
Julia Salazar: $1,000
Katey Rangel Guiterrez: $1,000
Keana Boyd-Bouie: $2,000
Marlen Jacobo Trevino: $2,000
Martha Vargas-Gonzalez: $1,000
Mya Baker: $1,000
Omariana Rosa-Belton: $1,000
Paris Burney: $2,000
Phoenix Matt: $1,000
Rodrigo Cabrales Rubio: $1,000
Staci Parker: $1,000
Stephanie Alvarez: $1,000
Tayla Taylor: $2,000
Tyana Marshall: $1,000
Valery Toledo-Galan: $1,000
Vanessa Mercado Huerta: $2,000
Yana Linko: $2,000
Various scholarships and awards were also given to other students during the 30-minute San Juan High School Senior Awards night, including a $30,000 UC Santa Barbara Promise Grant to Jacqueline Rodriguez. To view a video recording of the event, click here.
San Juan High School wrestling team, wearing new gear. From top, left to right, David Sferdian, Tyler Ciccone, Head Coach Andy Villegas, Jayden Duncan, Chance Phillips, Valentin Juarez, Assistant Coach Cory Bonincontri. Bottom row: Drew Hansen, Yana Linko, Carmen Saguilan, Nicolas Ciccone, Myliah Sauceda, Aubrey Edwards. Not pictured, Chris Carroll. // Image courtesy, Cory Bonincontri
By Marcus D. Smith– San Juan Spartan wrestling is officially back competing around the Northern California region consistently for the first time in over a decade. And for the first time since 2001, they have an opportunity to have a wrestler compete in state.
Last year, the team just competed in one tournament, whereas this season they will appear in five, a 500% increase.
Motivated by competitive students who want to develop their skills and gain an experience on life, San Juan High School wrestling coaches Andy Villegas and Cory Bonincontri were able to help rally the community and support the Spartan wrestling team.
For years though, the Spartans have struggled to get into tournaments and provide competition outside of exhibition matches.
“We don’t get any money for wrestling,” said Bonincontri. “We reached out in the community [and] really came together and we raised right under $4,000 in like eight days.”
Bonincontri is an alumni of San Juan High School, who has been coaching wrestling for seven years around the northern region, at both the high school and junior collegiate level. He was a former wrestler at San Juan High School from 1998-2001 and went on to compete at Sierra College where he was selected to first-team all conference in 2002 and 2003.
He was the last Spartan to represent San Juan High School in the state tournament in 2001. Now, with his expertise and giving back to his alma mater, San Juan High School not only has a competing team again, but also a chance to put some kids in the state tournament.
Villegas is also an alumni and former wrestler for San Juan High
School. He also coaches the varsity football program.
Through fundraisers within the community within Citrus Heights
area and on social media, San Juan will be able to afford to send their kids to
tournaments to compete in. What’s even more exciting for the Spartans is the
new team gear and apparel that was able to be purchased for the tournaments the
athletes will compete in.
“Last time San Juan has had new gear was ’99 when I was a sophomore,” said Bonincontri. “We have a bag of miscellaneous seam-lets from mid-90s to early 2000s that we put together.”
Wrestlers wearing medals earned at a Jan. 4 tournament. // Courtesy, Cory Bonincontri
The Spartans were able to compete over the weekend in the Vista Eagle Invitational, a tournament hosted by Vista Del Lago High School. San Juan traveled with three wrestlers to compete for the day, and all three would medal by placing top eight by the end of the day.
Freshman Drew Hansen finished in eighth place, cracking the top eight milestone. Fellow junior, Nicolas Ciccone, finished at sixth place overall. For Hansen and Ciccone, this is their first year as wrestlers competing on the team.
Another junior, Yana Linko, who is a second-year wrestler, would
end up placing fifth overall.
The Spartans look to continue their magical season and hopefully
spark a change that will create a buzz that will attract more students to come
out and become a participant of the wrestling team at San Juan High School.
For the school, this is just the start of something special. For now they want to focus on the moment they have in front of them and work their way toward something promising.
“I keep telling the kids, we live in the now. It’s not future trip. We have the state title, or the state tournament… if we’re not in the now we won’t get there,” said Bonincontri.
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Marcus D. Smith
Sports Reporter Marcus D. Smith covers high school sports in Citrus Heights. Smith is a Sacramento-area native and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2017.
