Page 2 - 2024 EOY GPS - English

Three Paths to Excellence: 3X the Success

By: Dr. Tommie L. Smith

raduating seniors will soon transition from high school hallways to college corridors with
big dreams, outstanding outlooks, and new paths to be trailblazed. Galena Park ISD
G(GPISD) will confer approximately 1,700 high school diplomas for the 2023-2024 school
year. This year’s graduates will venture to places like the CIA, training facilities for Diesel
Engineers, and digital art communities. Let’s take a closer look at three seniors embarking on
distinctly different journeys that will expand their diverse talents while combining their passion
with pursuit.

The first of these remarkable students is a North Shore
Senior High School senior and FFA President, Jonashia
Garrett, who will enroll in the CIA! Rather than the
Central Intelligence Agency, Jonashia will grace
the campus of Hyde Park, New York’s famed–and
highly selective–Culinary Institute of America. The
Culinary Institute of America is the world’s premier
culinary college. She will blend her love of food and
agriculture with her aspiration of becoming a farm-
to-table distributor for consumers.

Jonashia’s freshman year of high school included
thoughts of where food comes from because “food
Jonashia Garrett, North Shore Senior High School
is not only a way for you to show love and affection
to others without words; it is also a way for everyone around you to connect with each other.”
Those thoughts led her to the agricultural community within GPISD. The first animal she raised
[from the size of a dime] was a pig–Caesar. Bonding with, cleaning up after, and raising
Caesar through challenging moments taught her to “appreciate work, lessons, hardships, and
therapeutic moments” that included being fully immersed in animals, food, and land. As she
later cared for and competitively “showed” Boondock, Sweet-Pea, and Wilson, Jonashia saw
the fruits of her labor as she was laboring, including being transported by ambulance to show
Sweet-Pea.

Throughout her high school years, Jonashia’s love of food, agriculture, and leadership
connected as puzzle pieces as she learned about where food came from, how food is
manufactured, and how food can be influenced. “One thing all human beings have in
common is food,” so Jonashia Garrett wants to
influence the food industry by helping herself and
others in ways that matter like providing affordable
meals, affordable produce, and healthy food.
Joniasha hopes to develop the skill and talent needed
to be a culinary influencer as she majors in applied
food science at the CIA in Hyde Park, NY.

Another outstanding senior, Darma Montes, maintains
a tiny physical stature, she asserts herself with “I
can do it; I know I can do it” as she talks about her
desire to be a diesel mechanic and eventually an
engineer who builds and designs diesel engines. Darma Montes, Early College High School
Her petite frame is a sort of mirage for her immense