CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The famous saying goes, “excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build monuments of nothingness." But one Corpus Christi Independent School District student is not making excuses, or letting people make excuses for him.
18-year-old Isaiah Gomez is a senior at Mary Carroll High School, and he is defying the odds in the education system, causing him to be in the spotlight.
“I’m officially valedictorian,” Isaiah said.
He has worked hard to accomplish his goal of being top in his class. But not only is Gomez at the top in his class, he’s also the first Black valedictorian at the school. Thanks to his enrollment in several Advanced Placement classes, he has a 4.8 weighted grade point average (GPA).
He believed, despite what people think about African Americans, that anything is possible.
“But at the end of the day, I think it’s all in your head," Gomez said. "It’s just a mind block that you have to jump over eventually."
Because of this great academic achievement, he received recognition for the Corpus Christi chapter of the NAACP.
Thea Cain, the vice president of the Corpus Christi Chapter of the NAACP, said that it is more than being the valedictorian.
“I am extremely proud of Isaiah Gomez for not only being the valedictorian and first Black valedictorian of Carroll High School, for but also for being such an amazing leader and role model for our Carroll Tigers,” Cain said.
Gomez said that he hopes this recognition inspires other African Americans to work hard and accomplish great things.
“I feel like it’s a huge step for my community, my African American community, because I’m showing that this school has had a lot of African American (students) before, but in my opinion, it doesn’t really cater to them. They’re not really looked after like that,” Gomez said.
As for what’s next for this history maker, he has big plans to attend a big college.
“I’ve gotten accepted and have committed to Harvard University," Gomez said. "I plan to concentrate in molecular biology."
He’s expected to graduate from high school on June 3, 2023, at 10 a.m.
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