Top graduates blaze different paths

Two Gardnerville 18-year-olds blazed very different academic paths through the coronavirus outbreak to make Douglas County history this week.

Sophia Garedakis has already participated in graduation from Western Nevada College receiving an associates degree.

Garedakis is graduating with a degree from Douglas Nevada Online, a school that didn’t exist when she was a freshman. She estimated her grade point average at 5.2-5.4, which she achieved entirely virtually.

“I never intended to go so remote as I did,” she said. “The pandemic changed my plans for the last few years. I really tried and worked hard,” she said. 

“Going online is never easy. It involves a lot of self-discipline and self-motivation.”

Garedakis’ isolation was forced by her anemia, which prevented her from wearing a mask or being vaccinated.

She attended Gardnerville schools until fifth grade and then went to private school at St. Teresa’s in Carson City through eighth grade.

Douglas High School senior Carissa Bilderback will be the first student in the school’s history to graduate summa cum laude.

While the outbreak affected her high school career, another change that occurred was the conversion of Douglas schools to a class ranking structure away from valedictorian and salutatorian.

“Honestly, I really wanted to be valedictorian,” Bilderback said. 

The pole vaulter will have a leg up on her college career after taking 10 advanced placement classes, which contributed to her 5.0 grade point average.

She plans to major in biology as part of a pre-med program at Louisiana State University.

She credited the teachers at Douglas High for their support, but namechecked AP physics teacher Tony Brown.

“Mr. Brown is amazing, and it was super fun,” she said. “The teachers are all super understanding and amazing. They taught me a lot about how to enjoy learning.”

Not having that interaction raised the bar for Garedakis.

“I’ve always gone to school,” she said. “I’ve never been at home so much in terms of my education. It required me to be in charge of everything. I had to find outside resources if I didn’t understand the material. You’re self taught to a degree. I missed out on a lot of things I should have been involved in.”

Garedakis is going to take a gap year to help her family before applying to Stanford, Harvard or Yale.

“I have aspirations to be a published author and an attorney,” she said. “I really do enjoy writing.” 

Garedakis is the daughter of Michael and Tamara Garedakis. 

She graduated with honors and made the dean’s list each consecutive semester while completing her associates degree.  

“I also received the highest diploma offered at Douglas High School and Douglas Nevada Online,” she said. “To accomplish this, I did four years’ worth of high school courses and two years of college courses in three years.”

Four Douglas seniors also received degrees from Western Nevada College. Three other seniors participated in the jump start program that allows them to attend college and high school simultaneously, and completed their first year of a two-year degree, according to Douglas Counselor Roxann Mossholder.

“For the class of 2022, we have 33 students that have achieved cum laude status, 23 that earned magna cum laude status, and one that earned summa cum laude status,” Principal Michael Rechs said. “I’m so proud of our students.”

This was the first year students’ achievements were ranked in Douglas County.

Under the new regulation approved last summer, students with a 4-4.499 GPA are cum laude, which means with honor in Latin. A 4.5-4.999 grade point average is magna cum laude and Bilderback will be the only student with a 5.0-plus to achieve summa cum laude.

Bilderback is the daughter of Brad and Sheena Bilderback.

Nearly 300 Douglas High School seniors are scheduled to graduate 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the school.

Graduation for Douglas Nevada Online is noon Friday at the CVIC Hall to be followed at 2 p.m. for the almost three-dozen ASPIRE graduates. Coleville High School graduation is Saturday. 

Whittell High School students at Lake Tahoe are scheduled to have their graduation 10 a.m. June 18.