‘Just go for it.’ Palmetto High School’s Class of 2021 share their secrets for success

Members of Palmetto High School’s Class of 2021 were all smiles as cheering family and friends packed the grandstands of LECOM Field Saturday morning, congratulating one another on completing an important life step.

As the seniors said their goodbyes to high school, they are well aware that many more challenges are ahead of them. They also are well aware that what they learned as high school students will help them find the success they want in life.

Ethan Martin learned the importance of getting off on the right foot. Martin was a good student until his family suffered a trio of family deaths early in his freshman year.

“Which caused my GPA to plummet at the very beginning, which is something you don’t want to happen,” Martin said. “So for me it was working hard to get back to where I know I can be, and working through the programs outside of school to make sure I develop into the person I know I can be.”

JROTC was the program that helped Martin overcome a rough beginning.

Martin is now contracted to join the U.S. Air Force after he completes his next stage of education at Florida State University, where he will study mechanical engineering. He will remain in the ROTC program and enter the Air Force as an officer.

Martin’s advice to the incoming freshman: “Make sure you work hard from the very beginning. You can’t slack off.”

Fellow JROTC member Austin Dziuban agreed.

“Coming out of the eighth grade, my father stressed to me to find a program that fits and that you can thrive in,” Dziuban said. “When I found JROTC, it gave me the structure I needed to thrive in the school environment because I was a pretty lazy kid. JRTOC set standards on how to be and that gave me the motivation and sense of confidence to thrive academically and really set me up for success.”

Dziuban is contracted to join the U.S. Army as an officer when he completes his studies and the ROTC program at Embry-Riddle Areonautical University, where he will study computer engineering.

Sydney Woodman is still deciding between Kaiser University and St. Thomas University. Both schools have offered her a flag football scholarship. Wherever she chooses to go, she plans to study criminal psychology before joining the U.S. Coast Guard.

Woodman, too, noted the importance of getting off to a strong start in high school. She had her ACE diploma by the end of her junior year, “which was really hard on me because it’s just a lot of classwork,” she said. “But it was worth it by my senior year and I was finally done with ACE so I ended up going to SCF, and it was just an amazing year.”

Woodman said it wasn’t an easy path, but you can’t go the easy route if you want to end high school ready for the next challenges of life.

“So you just have to go for it,” Woodman said. “You have to stick it out now, but it will pay off in the end. As long as you get it done in the beginning, you’ll end up right where you want to be.”

Each graduate walked away feeling proud of their high school accomplishments and now they face the next phases of life.

Christina Davila-Hernandez offered some good advice to her fellow students as they prepare for the challenges ahead:

“As we go into the world, I hope none of us lose that urge to help one another,” she said. “I hope you never lose that spark in your eye because it’s really beautiful.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2021 at 11:10 AM.