Celebrating the top of the class of 2024

Graduation is the celebration of putting the last stitch on the quilt of high school. As loved ones take the quilt they helped their children make and lovingly cherish, the senior Class of 2024 is looking to their future with dreams, hopes and goals, searching for those new patches that will be part of their lives as college students and continued through adulthood.

As seniors begin to sew their own quilts, the Texas Catholic Herald takes a look at the accomplishments of the top students of the Archdiocesan graduating Class of 2024.

Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School

The Outstanding student from Cristo Rey Jesuit (CRJ) College Preparatory School’s 2024 graduating class is Nancy Garcia.

She will be going to the University of St. Thomas in the fall, where she will be majoring in psychology. Graduating Summa Cum Laude, Garcia has earned the highest academic distinction, while serving as student body president. She also participated in basketball and cross country and served as a student ambassador. Her other involvements included the CRJ Garden Club, Art Club, Magis Ministry and youth council.

Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart

Hannah Thompson is the Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart Class of 2024 Valedictorian. She will be attending Texas A&M University in College Station in the fall.
Thompson was heavily involved in Breakthrough Houston, where she volunteered as an eighth-grade STEM teacher. Thompson also volunteered at the Tuttle School in Briarwood during her junior year and as a teacher’s assistant for kindergarten through second-grade students. She hopes to continue her mission of education for all in college by volunteering in schools and charities in College Station.

Andrea Lessmann is the Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart Class of 2024 Salutatorian. She will be attending Notre Dame University in the fall to study marketing and finance. Lessmann served with Duchesne’s Social Awareness program and by teaching young kids swimming. At school, she was involved in the Key Club, Spirit Club, soccer team and swim team. She hopes to grow the small art business she’s been working on for the last few years and combine the business education with that artistic pursuit.

Frassati Catholic High School

The Frassati Catholic High School Class of 2024 Valedictorian, Annaliese Turner, will be attending the University of Oklahoma in the fall to study civil engineering.
Turner has served the Frassati Catholic community as a sacristan and an altar server. Additionally, she has supported her school community as a student ambassador.

In school, she was a member of the Book Club, ASL Club, National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Acts of Mercy Club, Robotics Club and Swing Dance Club, as well as being a two-sport athlete in cross country and tennis.

The Frassati Catholic High School’s 2024 Salutatorian, Isabella Campodonico, will be attending the Universidad de Navarra, Spain, to major in applied management. Campodonico served as a student ambassador, working with prospective students. She was a member of the National Honor Society.

Incarnate Word Academy

Incarnate Word Academy’s 2024 Valedictorian, Lauren Gentry, will attend Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and major in biological engineering with a minor in Spanish.

Throughout the last four years, she has volunteered as a ranch hand at Lone Oak Ranch in Anahuac, helping to preserve Texas’ marshland. Additionally, she volunteered with young softball players around Houston. While at IWA, she was senior class president, captain of the softball team, a member of the varsity basketball team and the president of IWA’s sports club — CLASH. She hopes to graduate from LSU and attend medical school to become a cardiovascular surgeon and become fluent in Spanish to support Texas’ Latino community.

IWA’s 2024 Salutatorian, Jane Volf, will attend Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where she’ll major in business and political science as well as play on the women’s soccer team. In the last four years, she has volunteered at the LifeHouse of Houston, a pro-life organization devoted to caring for pregnant women and their babies throughout and after their pregnancies. She also spent the past summer as a volunteer at Camp Smiles, a week-long summer camp for kids with cerebral palsy.

While at IWA, she was a part of the National Honor Society, Campus Ministry team, ambassador, president of Falcons 4 Life, Math Honors Society, and she played varsity sports in soccer, cross country and tennis.

O’Connell College Preparatory School

The O’Connell College Preparatory School Class of 2024 Valedictorian is Mateo Esqueda. He will attend the University of Texas at San Antonio in the fall, majoring in film and media studies and minoring in creative writing. He assisted the faculty and staff as a school ambassador and had the opportunity to host visiting students during school and mentor new students who transferred to O’Connell from other schools.

Esqueda served the community in diverse ways through his involvement with the National Honor Society and Campus Ministries. They were able to organize and hold events, such as canned food drives, personal care packets for the homeless, and working with the Galveston Food Bank. His senior capstone project involved more than 100 hours of volunteering and fundraising to provide a donation to support the Galveston’s Children’s Center.

He was also a member of both the varsity basketball and baseball teams. His goal is to build a successful career as a screenwriter and to share stories and events through writing and producing films.

The O’Connell College Preparatory School Class of 2024 Salutatorian is Cailyn Molly-Jo Wohleb. She will attend Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, in the fall and major in hospitality administration with a focus on culinary arts. At school, Wohleb was part of the National Honor Society, German Honor Society, theater, varsity tennis and a school ambassador.

In the community, she volunteered over 170 hours with the Rosenberg Library. She organized and participated in numerous charitable activities such as can food drives, personal care packets for the homeless, and working with the local food pantries and the Galveston Food Bank distribution.

St. Agnes Academy

The St. Agnes Academy’s Class of 2024 Valedictorian is National Merit Scholarship winner Melinda Dae. She will be attending University of Texas at Austin in the Polymathic Scholars Honors Program, where she will study neuroscience.

In the community, Dae has volunteered as a skate therapy coach, sharing her love of ice skating with individuals with disabilities. She’s also served on the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council, advocating for safe driving initiatives, and interned at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where her research presentation earned a People’s Choice award. On campus, Dae served on the St. Agnes Student Council and co-led the speech and debate team, where she was a four-time national qualifier — a first in St. Agnes’ history.

The St. Agnes Academy Class of 2024 Salutatorian is Abigail Hou. While in school, Hou served the Dominican Preaching Team, helping to plan and lead retreats, and a member of the varsity field hockey team. After discovering her love for computer science, Abby accepted a position to conduct machine learning research and presented it at the MIT Undergraduate Research Technology Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Next year, she will be attending Northwestern University in Illinois, continuing her studies in computer science.

St. John XXIII College Preparatory

The St. John XXIII College Preparatory’s Class of 2024 Valedictorian is Rebecca Sandweg. She will be attending the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in psychology and finance as a double major. In school, Sandweg was a member of the National Honor Society, the National Hispanic Honor Society, and the National Science Honor Society. She was a Lion Ambassador and played basketball as a freshman. She participated in the Spanish Club, the Earth Club, and the Treat People with Kindness Club and was a summer math tutor.

In the community, she volunteered for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Brookwood Community, St. Faustina Catholic Church VBS, and the Houston Food Bank. Sandweg has several academic achievements, including the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Award as a sophomore, and was named a College Board National AP Scholar with Distinction as a junior.

The St. John XXIII College Preparatory’s Class of 2024 Salutatorian is Ana Granados. She will be attending the University of Notre Dame and plans to study architecture. As a sophomore student, Granados served as president of the National Honor Society, co-president of the Art Club, and secretary of the National Spanish Honor Society. She is also a member of the National Science Honor Society, a Lion Ambassador, and a member of various school clubs. As a junior, she played golf.

Off-campus, Granados volunteered for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Child Advocates of Fort Bend, The Lord’s Kitchen, and the Parks Youth Ranch. Some of her many achievements include participation in the Rice Architecture Summer Immersion Program and attendance at Camp ARCH, a construction science camp at Texas A&M University. She also received the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Award and was named an AP Scholar with Distinction.

St. Pius X High School

The St. Pius X High School Class of 2024 Valedictorian is Granger Bering-James. She will attend Rice University, majoring in statistics.

In school, Bering-James was a member of the tennis team, sports medicine, student ambassadors, student council, National Honor Society and Panther Peer Tutoring. In the community, she assisted at the Houston Food Bank and volunteered at Camp Blessing the summer before her senior year, where she was a buddy for a camper with seizures. She took care of her, always ensuring she was safe and having fun. She hopes that she can make an impact on the medical field through data science and quicken the recovery time for illnesses through determining means of earlier diagnosis.

Olasubomi Bolatito Majekodunmi is the St. Pius X’s Class of 2024 Salutatorian. She will attend the University of Kentucky, majoring in biology on the pre-med track.
In school, Majekodunmi was a varsity basketball player and manager, part of the Recycling Club, National Honors Society, student ambassadors, tennis manager and Service Club. In the community, she volunteered at a hospital called St. Claire Healthcare and helped patients and physicians. She hopes to be a physician.

St. Thomas High School

The St. Thomas High School (STH) Class of 2024 Valedictorian is Campbell Brown. He will attend the University of Texas at Austin, planning to participate in the Plan II honors program while also pursuing a pre-med track.

At St. Thomas, Brown was president of both the school’s chapter of the National Honor Society and the Quiz Bowl Club. He has served the community through his work as an Eagle Scout, completing renovations to the grounds of St. Joseph Catholic Church as his Eagle Scout Project. Additionally, Brown served in a volunteer position at Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital last summer. “I hope that I can make a meaningful impact on the communities I will be a part of in college and grow in my faith,” he said.

The St. Thomas High School Class of 2024 Salutatorian is David Neason. He will be attending Texas A&M University in College Station to study biomedical engineering or petroleum engineering. Neason was the secretary of the Computer Science Honor Society, which hosted computer science classes for kids in Houston who did not have technology classes at their schools. In school, he was president of the Quiz Bowl Club junior year, played trombone in the STH band for three years, played varsity tennis all four years of high school and a member of the Ad Altare Dei society.

In the future, Neason aspires to use his experience and hopefully a degree in engineering to make changes in the medical device industry, including technology for replacement heart valves.

Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

Zachary Jones is Strake Jesuit’s Class of 2024 Valedictorian. He is going to attend the University of Notre Dame in the fall to study applied and computational math and statistics. At Strake Jesuit, Jones was a four-year member of the chamber orchestra, serving as first chair violist his senior year. He was a three-year letterman on the water polo team, who placed as region finalists this season. He was also involved with the freshman retreat, twice serving as a small-group leader, and represented Gonzaga House on the House Council.

Outside of school, Jones was involved in the Boy Scouts of America, achieving Eagle Scout in September 2023. As a lifelong Astros fan, he is interested in the realm of sports and business statistics, as well as paying forward the gift of his education through teaching.

The Salutatorian of Strake Jesuit, class of 2024, is Alessandro Directo. He plans to attend Rice University in the fall to study engineering. Directo traveled to Mexico multiple times to attend a service project centered around giving English and faith-based classes to young children. Every summer, he volunteers at Leadership Camp Texas, helping young boys grow into great leaders by fostering virtues and learning leadership skills.

In addition to his community service, Directo has been a dedicated member of the Strake Jesuit rugby team since his freshman year, serving as captain and leading the team to multiple winning seasons. During his time at Strake Jesuit, Directo was also the president of the Ultimate Frisbee Club and the Filipino Student Association. In the future, Directo hopes to pursue an MBA and seek engineering-related entrepreneurial opportunities in Houston.