It came as quite a surprise to learn that I would be added to the Summerville Hall of Fame. Thank you to the Summerville High Foundation for this tremendous honor.
This award has brought me back to my time spent at Summerville High, where I enjoyed four years of engaging classes, in a beautiful setting, with wonderful people.
School was always something that I loved. I enrolled in every “honors” class possible, and doubled-up on math my freshman year just so I could make it to calculus as a senior. I mean, doesn’t that sound fun? I have always appreciated my teachers at Summerville because they inspired and challenged me. They fed my hunger to learn and motivated me to always maintain a GPA over 4.0. It was not until graduation that I found out that I was 5th in my class academically.
My freshman year, my mom suggested I try running cross country, so I decided to give it a try. Running felt natural and provided a great way to meet nice people so I stuck with it. I really loved being part of the team. I won the MLL league title my sophomore and senior years. All four years of high school I qualified for the state meet in Fresno, but my sophomore year was the best, because my team qualified with me and we were all able to go together. Senior year I finished 16th in the state. I also played soccer and ran track. A highlight for me was running the mile in 5 min, 10 sec.
After graduating from Summerville High School in 2001, I followed the plan that I laid out for my life in 7th grade; I was going to be a dental hygienist. I graduated from University of the Pacific in 2005 and have been working as a hygienist ever since. I met my amazing husband Mark Waelty (also Summerville alumni), and we we’ve now been married for almost 17 years. We have two beautiful children whom we love to hike, travel, and just be with.