MARYSVILLE Myranda Dudgeon and Eddie Caberto are the Marysville students of the month for November. They were presented to the Marysville School Board at its Dec. 4 meeting by the Marysville Soroptimist and Kiwanis.
They both stand tall in academics and athletics, but at 510 Dudgeon edges her peer by an inch, so we will start with her. The captain of the volleyball team, Dudgeon plays middle blocker and right side and is one of the tallest women on the team. She tried basketball in the eighth grade, wasnt good and didnt enjoy it. Instead she found her forte around the net and has thrived since then.
I really love the team aspect, Dudgeon explained. Its a very high intensity. You just go out and give it all you have and like a team sport its very fun.
She also is on the track team, throwing a javelin just an inch shy of 95 feet, and competing in the long jump and triple jump as well. Dudgeon earned varsity letters for two years in volleyball and three in track and field.
Academically she is no slouch, selected academic state champion for 4A varsity volleyball. Her 3.86 GPA was earned with a plethora of Advanced Placement classes including U.S. History, language and composition, statistics, calculus, comparative politics and English literature. Thats a headache just typing her syllabus, but she said its all in a days work.
Im a hard working student and Im very dedicated, Dudgeon said. I put my time in and I think I just got rewarded for that.
Like many girls at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, the senior thrives in the hard sciences.
I do really well in chemistry, I like chemistry. I like how everything makes sense, theres a rule and a law for everything.
Aside from the classroom and gymnasium, Dudgeon interned with a Marysville chiropractor and took a medical assistant class through the Sno-Isle Skills Center where she had the highest grade in her class. She is applying to colleges right now and doesnt have a frontrunner in mind, but wants to study psychology and be a counselor. She initially wanted to be a doctor but found through her leadership classes that she liked working with kids and teens. A rehabilitation center would be an ideal setting.
I like helping people, Dudgeon said.
She is in the Honor Society, was nominated for Homecoming royalty, and won the Tomahawk Perseverance Award from Marysville Track and Field. She is active in the local Mormon community where she volunteers and attends early-morning seminary.
Eddie Kekoaokalani Caberto likes a challenge, and hes not talking about spelling his beautiful middle name. With seven vowels and five consonants, it is a Hawaiian word meaning heavenly warrior and is an apt description of the affable but competitive scholar.
He pulled down perfect numbers for much of his high school career, taking honors and advanced placement classes. His freshman year brought a perfect 4.0 GPA, followed by 3.95 and 3.9 in his sophomore and junior years, respectively. That success came easy, Caberto said, until advanced placement classes were available.
Regular courses I found way too easy and I just wanted something challenging and thats what AP did for me, Caberto said, explaining why he decided to increase the amperage on his workload despite the risk to his transcript. I was afraid that it wouldnt have the straight As that it started out with. Last year I got my first B. It was in an AP class. That was an upset but the counselors say that in an AP class a B is a really good grade.
Caberto grew up in Hawaii and moved here in later years. As a freshman he attended a private school there but came back after a semester.
I went there and I stayed in the dorms for half a year and then I came back because I missed my parents and my home, he explained. I think that put me into some kind of mode that I havent left yet.
His advanced placement classes included calculus, literature, English, history and comparative politics and Caberto is in the academic challenge program.
At 59 and 165 pounds, the M-P senior is a running back on the Tomahawk football team where he has played for four years. He is also on the track team and runs 40 yards in 4.6 seconds. His events include pole-vaulting, and the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes.
His spark is music. Caberto plays the ukulele and guitar, and has an avid interest in Hawaiian music. This is very rhythmic, reggae-like stuff, and is integral to Cabertos pride in his heritage.
At home its a big deal. Its more like a way of life, he explained. You would have to live it to understand that.
His career goals are music and marine biology.
Its an odd combination but its what I want to do, Caberto told the school board.
His ideal career would be in the tank with an orca at San Diegos SeaWorld, despite news reports of a trainer getting mauled by one of the mammals a week before.
I love to do that, he said. I actually havent really gotten that deep yet. I think growing up in Hawaii played a big role with that one; ocean life, I just love it.
Caberto was class vice president for his first two years in high school and treasurer his junior year. This year he is ASB public relations manager.