SENIOR STANDOUTS • TOHS


Tizler

Tizler

Editor’s note: Senior standouts are selected by their respective schools, and profiles are compiled from questionnaires filled out by the students. Professional photos by Cornerstone Photography.

Jade Tiszler

Jade Tiszler’s passion for protecting the environment guided much of her extracurricular work. She’s spent time with the National Park Service, California State Parks, Heal the Bay, the Audubon Society, Mountains Restoration Trust and Moorpark Unified School District. She joined the school’s composting and recycling clubs.

She was a member of the cross country team, color guard and orchestra. This year, she served as concertmaster of the chamber orchestra program. She’s been an engineering group member of the school’s majors program for three years.

The 18-year-old daughter of Lorenza Fong and John Tiszler said her mother has influenced her the most so far.

Walker

Walker

“She taught me to be honest, kind and give generously to others who are less fortunate.”

She plans to study biology at Cal Lutheran University and enter the health field. English was her favorite subject in high school and Kelly Abrams was her favorite teacher because she made literature fun, Tiszler said.

Elwood Walker

It’s not surprising that Elwood Walker dreams of being a film director or that he’s heading to a commercial arts school after graduation. Signed as a commercial director at 13, Walker wrote and directed “Rocket Boy,” a Disney spot that was aired on television and shown in more than 15,000 theaters nationwide his freshman year. The following year, one of his short films touting teachers as superheroes was screened at the National White House Student Film Festival. As a junior, he continued to work on short films and commercials, and this year, one of his films received the Best LGBT Short award at a number of film festivals.

Clark

Clark

Walker’s favorite class was AP photography with Lisa Ravitch.

His parents, Tim and Mora, have been the most influential people in the 17-yearold’s life.

“They always do everything they can to support me and give me everything they can,” he said. “Whether it was being in front of the camera or making costumes for me to wear when I started making movies at the age of 5, they have given me so much, and for that I am forever grateful.”

Jake Clark

You’d think an Instagram account 13,000 followers strong— and growing—would be enough to keep Jake Clark busy, but the 17-year-old Associated Student Body president also managed to be captain of the varsity volleyball team, serve as homecoming king, host a TEDx event and start a senior visitation program.

He’s placed in the Ventura County Science Fair, participated in the Ronald Reagan Leadership program and hosted as well as competed in the school’s Dancing with the Stars competition.

Zakowicz

Zakowicz

He recorded music with Beach Boys producer Michael Lloyd.

Clark’s parents, John and Hope, have been the biggest influence in his life so far.

“I admire how they took the time to raise me and still work hard to get by,” he said.

His brother, Conner, has also been a big influence, and Clark said he is constantly blown away by how smart his brother is.

At school, Kellie Ehret, an English teacher who serves as the ASB advisor, was Clark’s favorite teacher because he admires how she loves people and puts others before herself. He also appreciated the smiles the TOHS office staff brought to his face every day.

He is headed to Pepperdine to study communications and media production and plans to pursue a career in music.

Kamila Zakowicz

Dartmouth-bound Kamila Zakowicz has a list of accomplishments longer than the graduation march into the Lancer stadium.

Li

Li

The daughter of Eva and Jacek Zakowicz completed the school’s Center for Advanced Studies and Research, was an AP Scholar with Distinction and has won a variety of science awards. She is part of her church youth leadership, a dancer and volunteers in the Anatomic Pathology Lab at Los Robles Regional Medical Center.

Her research includes “The Effects of Synthetic Iron Chelators and Flavonoids on Free Radical Pathogenicity Using P. Flourescens” and “The Ethical Effects and Psychological Motivations of White Hat Hacking.”

Zakowicz, 17, hopes to become a doctor. Her favorite subjects were English, chemistry, physics and comparative religions. Medicine, she says, is the perfect career because it combines her love of science, her fascination with the human body and her desire to help people while interacting with them.

Her mother has had the biggest influence on her life so far.

“She has taught me everything that I haven’t been stubborn enough to have to learn on my own,” Zakowicz said. “I am lucky to have inherited her free spirit, fierce passion and at least some of her brain power.”

Irene Li

Irene Li plans to pursue a medical degree and develop a medical device or drug delivery system, but first she’s planning on studying biomedical engineering at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.

The valedictorian completed a 30-page paper titled “The Analysis of Novel Carboxymethyl Chitosan/ Sodium Alginate Micro- spheres as a Potential Drug Carrier,” a project aimed to design an oral route for peptide therapies.

She volunteered at Westminster Free Clinic, served as senior class president, was a member of the swim team and health science majors club, and was homecoming queen.

Her favorite class was AP seminar with Tasha Beaudoin. The class taught her how to evaluate problems from different viewpoints.

“Mrs. Beadudoin is one of the most caring teachers and gives her all to make sure her students are excelling,” Li said.

Her swim coaches have had the most influence on her, teaching her that if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything. “Supporting me through my decisions in and out of the pool, Steve (Reardon) and (Thomas) Smith have shown me how I should tackle challenges and overcome them,” she said.

Becca Whitnall