Incline High School distinguished 2008 graduates

Click to Enlarge Incline High School valedictorian Aislinn Murray said she plans to pursue a degree in mass media communications and marketing at the University of California, Berkeley after graduating high school in June. Bonanza Photo - Jen Schmidt Browse and Buy Tahoe Bonanza Photos

By Kyle Magin
Bonanza Staff Writer
May 2, 2008

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Valedictorian on to Cal Berkeley after June graduation
An interest in how the media influences people compelled Incline High School’s valedictorian, Aislinn Murray, to pursue a degree in mass media communications and marketing. An interest in warm weather compelled her to pursue that major at the University of California, Berkeley.
“I’ve always been a good writer and how the media works captivates me,” Murray said. “I’m interested in how and why the media can influence people.”
She said the major is something she has been thinking about during her entire tenure at IHS. At different points during her tenure as editor in chief of the school newspaper, she has has considered majoring in journalism or public relations.
Murray said the most challenging grades to earn at IHS were chemistry and calculus.
“Math and science aren’t really my favorite things,” Murray said.
But, to become valedictorian a commitment to doing well in those areas is needed. So, Murray said she had to work harder at those two classes than she normally had to.
On the flip side, Murray said her favorite classes were Advanced Placement U.S. History, the “We The People” class and English classes.
She said she was drawn to the student newspaper because she enjoys planning big projects and being in charge of situations.
In her senior year, Murray took charge of planning “snowcoming,” an IHS event which mirrored homecoming for basketball season. It marked the first year IHS ever held snowcoming.
“A bunch of the seniors felt we wanted to do something neat for basketball season and I thought the event went really well,” Murray said.
Planning snowcoming meant putting together the king and queen ceremony and planning a pre-game carnival, which Murray said was a hit.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Murray also performed community service at the Reno Community Foundation, served in the student leadership class and played tennis for IHS.
Murray said attaining the status of valedictorian was never a goal for her.
“I never set out to get valedictorian, I know it’s competitive for some people, but I just never thought about it too much, I just wanted to get good grades,” Murray said.

Click to Enlarge Incline High School Saluatorian Liz Ferme plans to attend Wellesley College in the fall. Bonanza Photo-Jen Schmidt Browse and Buy Tahoe Bonanza Photos

Salutatorians ready for next stage of education, life
After four years of outstanding grades, student leadership and extracurricular activities, Incline High School’s two salutatorians, Katherine Mancuso and Liz Ferme are ready to move on to the next chapter of their lives.
For Ferme, that means prestigious Wellesley College, an all-women institution outside of Boston, Mass.
“I think the people I’ve met who are going there next year and the people who go there now convinced me to go,” Ferme said. “A lot of powerful women came from there, like Hillary Clinton, and after I visited I loved the campus.”
Mancuso said she was sold on Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., after she visited in the cold of a Michigan winter and was still impressed.
“I knew it was unique and different after visiting in the middle of winter, I really liked it,” Mancuso said.
Both took on a variety of leadership roles in their time at IHS and say extra-curricular activities gave them pride in addition to their grades at Incline.

Click to Enlarge Incline High School Salutatorian Katherine Mancuso plans to attend Hillsdale College in the fall. Bonanza Photo-Jen Schmidt Browse and Buy Tahoe Bonanza Photos

“I was very proud of how prom turned out last year,” Mancuso said, as she served as a co-coordinator for the 2007 event. “We worked really hard on it and we worked well with everyone involved, it seemed like we didn’t have a single problem.”
Ferme, who served on the IHS student congress as president, said balancing her time between school, extra curriculars and free time wasn’t too much of a challenge.
“I don’t think what I did outside of class had any impact on my grades,” Ferme said. “(The extra-curriculars) kind of blended together with my free time because the friends I hang out with are also in my classes and activities.”
Both participated in sports, with Mancuso playing soccer, running track and serving as a senior captain for the IHS cross country team.
Ferme played tennis and said she improved greatly between her sophomore and senior years.
Mancuso said she would like to double-major at Hillsdale in English and Spanish.
“I was really impressed at Hillsdale when I got to sit in on a Spanish class, they were talking about world politics and doing it in Spanish, and I thought that was cool,” Mancuso said.
She said she would eventually like to go into law and possibly politics, something Mancuso says Hillsdale will help her decide because of their internship program in Washington, D.C.
Ferme said she expects to major in neuroscience at Wellesley, and may eventually like to become a medical researcher.
“I just love math and science, I like figuring out and working through the problems in both subjects,” Ferme said.