Hanna Center High School Student Christian
Christian is a junior at Hanna Center’s High School and is celebrating two recent back-to-back wins, including earning his driver’s permit and securing his first part-time job at Ledson Winery. Hanna staff member, Jeremiah Presinal, coached Christian beforehand by role-playing to prep for the interview. Today, Christian works weekends and after school as a ‘runner’ for the winery, setting up tastings for guests, and helping with re-stocking and kitchen duties.
Almost 17, Christian’s home is in Sacramento, where he is ‘somewhere in the middle’ of three sisters and one brother. His work schedule means he doesn’t get to visit home more often, but he’s still able to complete all his schoolwork and maintain a good GPA. His favorite subject is math, although he likes science and history too.
At Hanna just over one year, when Christian arrived, he enjoyed playing on all the high school sports teams, including basketball (although he got hurt and sidelined), soccer and volleyball. One of his favorite accomplishments so far has been participating in raising, showing and selling a sheep last summer at the Sonoma County Fair, a project through the high school’s agriculture extra-curricular program.
Christian has especially enjoyed a few class excursions, including a sailing lesson that allowed for the boys to learn how to tighten the sail, steer, etc., as well as a day trip to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Life on Hanna’s campus includes ‘lots of time’ at the gym, which is a favorite spot for the boys to weight-lift and play hoops after dinner.
Plans for his future include college, and he is hoping that he will learn more about his options, opportunities, entrance requirements, and available routes as he works through his junior year. And while he hasn’t decided on a major yet, he is most interested in becoming an entrepreneur, because ‘those are the guys with the big ideas and most money.’
His goal for junior year was to earn all A’s, as he wants to have the best shot at acceptance into his college of choice. The ‘new grading system’ has proved to be challenging to earn all A’s thus far, but he’s doing well academically and is ahead on credits. Earning cash from his job (Hanna saves half of his earnings for graduation) has been a big motivator for a successful career.
Christian is very fond of his teachers and ‘likes them all equally.’ Hanna staff and faculty are very proud of Christian!
