Mater Dei High School celebrated 520 graduates earlier this spring with $72 million in college scholarships. There were 198 Golden Seal Bearers for California Scholarship Federation, 138 Lifetime members of the National Honor Society, and 170 seniors graduated with a 4.0 GPA or higher.
This year’s valedictorian is Katelyn Osuna of Yorba Linda and this year’s salutatorian is Alex Audette of Newport Beach.
Katelyn Osuna graduated with a weighted 4.4 GPA. Osuna will be attending Stanford University in the fall, majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Chinese and Music. An avid language learner, Osuna simultaneously took AP Spanish and Honors Chinese.
Osuna earned the Disney Scholars Program Scholarship, California Scholarship Federation Scholarship, Teen Advisory Board Scholarship, Moose Youth Awareness Program Scholarship, and Stanford Scholarship.
“It is thanks to Mater Dei that I have been able to live up to my parents’ expectations of being a well-rounded individual in all of my activities and as a Catholic, Latina woman. I could not be more grateful for Mater Dei’s willingness to help me pursue my dreams and for facilitating my development into the young woman that I am today,” said Osuna.
During her high school years, Osuna created motivational seminars to help kids ages four to nine to value kindness. She shared her message internationally and received the International Moose Youth Awareness Program Finalist and a California State Winner. She served at Yorba Linda Public Library as a volunteer intern and serve as president on the Teen Advisory Board.
Osuna was the president of National Honor Society, ASB Scarlet Ambassador Head Commissioner, and choral student director. She was also highly involved in campus ministry, musicals, and sports.
Alex Audette of Newport Beach is Class of 2019’s salutatorian. Audette will be attending the University of Washington in Seattle and plans on majoring in Journalism. Audette graduated high school with a weighted 4.32 GPA. Audette was awarded a cord at graduation for over 400 hours of community service during high school.
At school, Audette was active in the National Honors Society, California Scholarship Federation, Leadership for Fellowship of Athletic Monarch Club for lacrosse and volleyball. She also held various leadership roles to serve the Associated Student Body.
Audette participated in many service projects at school and outside of school. She served the underserved communities in west side Chicago. In Orange County, she read to children and mentored new readers at local libraries. Audette contributed 75 hours of community service at the Waymakers Shelter and received the Rosebud Award, and finally, Audette served as head of philanthropy for the National Charity League.
“Every single teacher, student and faculty member welcomed me with open arms and strived to ensure that each day spent at Mater Dei was better than the last. I truly flourished here and was constantly given opportunities to explore different talents and aspects of myself that I had not yet discovered,” said Audette.