Angelica Mendoza’s reaction said it all.
As Dr. Jazmin Torres, McCaskey’s associate principal, ticked off the achievements and characteristics of the school’s 49th inductee into its Hall of Honor, Mendoza slowly realized Torres was talking about her.
“When Dr. Torres said ‘she’ I got a weird sensation in my gut, but I dismissed it because I didn’t think it could ever be me,” Mendoza said. “Then I looked at the administrators on the stage and they were smiling back at me … It’s honestly hard to put into words.”
Calling Mendoza “an exemplary scholar and student athlete,” Torres said her teachers describe her as “someone who believes in teamwork, unity and continually exhibits McCaskey pride everywhere she goes.”
During her time in high school, Mendoza participated in a host of music ensembles—vocal ensemble, chamber choir, Voices of Freedom choir, and McCaskey’s marching band—and is a member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society. She performed in the fall play and the spring musical. And she competed on the varsity field hockey, swimming and track and field teams.
As a senior, Mendoza captained the field hockey team and the marching band’s color guard. She was part of peer mediation, serving as a resource for McCaskey students placed in the reflective center and who are going through challenging times.
Mendoza “brightens a room just by entering it,” Torres said. “She is talented, gracious, gregarious, humble, diligent, and tenacious, and these are qualities that have helped her in her leadership roles at McCaskey.”
Outside of the classroom and off the field, she participated in Link Crew, which is a high school student leadership program that welcomes and mentors freshman students to help them feel more comfortable about the first year of their high school experience. Serving as historian of the National Honor Society, she was also a member of the Eco Club and Ski Club while working part time at Lancaster’s Central Market and Lancaster Sweet Shop.
“My family was joking around at first and just saying, ‘What if it’s Angelica?” she said. “But as Dr. Torres listed all my activities, their laughter turned into tears and excitement as they realized that it was actually me!”
Mendoza, whose mother passed away in 2018, said the moment was extra special for being in Clipper Magazine Stadium, where her family has had season tickets. She attended her first baseball game, the Barnstormers inaugural game, when she was just one month old. Her family also held her mother’s Celebration of life in the stadium.
“I learned to do what I love from my mom,” she said. “Graduation being held at the Clipper Magazine stadium was a very full circle moment for me.”
In the fall, Mendoza plans to attend the University of Pittsburgh to major in social work and minor in Spanish. She hopes to one day return to public schools and as a child therapist.
Teachers nominate students for induction in the Hall of Honor, which a selection committee of faculty and administrators reviews based on criteria including academics, extracurricular activities, service and achievement.