All SIS students begin the college application process in the second semester of their junior year. They meet with college admissions counselors over video calls or face to face, read and write personal statements, research colleges, consider their career interests, and even think about what environment they would thrive in.
“Like many CNMI students, our seniors often commit to a school and don’t lay eyes on it until they arrive for their first semester,” Altizer said. “We try our best to think about all the factors that go into making a student happy so they arrive knowing they’ve made a good decision.”
The class of 2020 has a variety of interests that range from medicine and art to business and scientific research. “While this class is diverse in their interests, they still bond over a heightened sense of purpose,” Headmaster Ron Snyder said of the seniors, which includes his daughter Anika. “They are not content in just getting by, they want to excel at whatever academic or non-academic endeavor they take on,” he said.
Like other students across the island, this class had visions of graduation and celebrations that they will not see come to pass and face an uncertain future not knowing if they will attend class on campus or from home.
But the class of 2020 found silver linings in the unexpected interruption. “Being a senior during this time is hard but being part of the class of 2020 at SIS made this rigorous senior year cheerful and easy,” Co-Salutatorian Allen Lee said. Co-Valedictorian Malika Miyawaki added, “I don’t think I ever had this much time to study before. I’m sure this study habit will help me in the long run when I go to Emory.”
The SIS Class of 2020
- Steven Goodwin: University of San Diego, California
- Shunei Ishiguro: Nagoya College of Tourism, Japan
- Jennifer Semi Ji: Northern Marianas College, CNMI
- Sally Lai: Seton Hall University, Pennsylvania
- Sangyoon Lee: Baylor University, Texas
- You Sun Lee: Purdue University, Indiana
- Wei Yuan Liang: Northern Marianas College, CNMI
- Malika Miyawaki: Emory University, Georgia
- Andrea No: Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston
- Sofia Osnach: Saint Petersburg University
- Anna Qian: California College of the Arts, Oakland
- Henry Qian: University of California, Irvine
- Jonpaul Sablan: University of California, Irvine
- Robbie Schorr: William Woods University, Missouri
- Minseong Shin: Temple University, Pennsylvania
- Anika Snyder: University of St. Andrews , Scotland
- Ken Song: University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee
- Aca Xie: Woodbury University, California
- Xin Henry Xiong: Seattle Central College, Washington
- Song Xuan Zhang, Northern Marianas College, CNMI
