SPC's ECHS Valedictorian Mark Pantoja

GRADUATING ST. PHILIP'S COLLEGE CYBER STUDENT MARK PANTOJA IS VALEDICTORIAN SPEAKER FOR THE FIRST CLASS TO GRADUATE FROM SPC'S EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL WITH SAN ANTONIO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

SPC + NSA + PENN + ECHS + SAISD + TA&MUSA = CONGRATULATIONS, MARK PANTOJA!!

When 120-year-old St. Philip's College celebrated college cybersecurity student success while sending a college record three teams to a college fair for members of America’s largest youth cyber education program, college student Mark Pantoja was one of the student team members, attending the 2018 Mayor’s Cyber Cup College Fair and Luncheon program March 24 in Freeman Coliseum as part of life in the nation’s second-largest cybersecurity sector.

By accepting admission to a summer academy at one of the three oldest engineering schools in America, the Davis Middle School alumnus went far from San Antonio to attend the Engineering Summer Academy at Penn in Computer Science on the campus of The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 2017.

And in 2014, Pantoja was recognized by college president Dr. Adena Williams Loston and then-San Antonio Independent School District superintendent Dr. Sylvester Perez in a luncheon celebrating members of the SAISD's “A” honor roll students at the college.

As for Pantoja’s cyber-engineering future, add valedictorian to his upcoming list of accomplishments.

Pantoja is not just a valedictorian speaker for his high school graduation. Pantoja is the valedictorian of the first class to graduate from St. Philip’s College Early College High School with San Antonio Independent School District, and according to an SAISD web page, "Mark will already have his associate’s degree before heading off to Texas A&M in the fall to pursue a degree in computer engineering."

When the St. Philip's College Spring 2018 commencement ceremony, takes place four days from now on May 11 at 7 p.m. in Freeman Coliseum at 3201 E. Houston St., Pantoja will be among students in caps and gowns who have been on amazing journeys. When his valedictorian speaking date takes place during his high school graduation ceremony in mid-June, Mark Pantoja will be among the first if not the first high school valedictorian speakers to complete a college-level information security and assurance academic program that offers students two National Security Agency certifications upon completion of their course.

View a video and read the full story on Pantoja as a valedictorian at the district report, 2018 St. Philip’s Early College High School Valedictorian: Mark Pantoja.

For details on the May 11 college graduation ceremony, visit the college graduation page at http://ngskmc-eis.net/spc/graduation/, email the college record and registration team at spc-gradadv@ngskmc-eis.net or contact Tracy Shelton, the college’s associate director of records and registration, at 210-486-2700, tshelton@ngskmc-eis.net.

CAPTION: There are few discernable differences among students at 120-year-old St. Philip's College during a graduation rehearsal May 4 in the college’s Watson Fine Arts Center in the city’s Denver Heights neighborhood, but among the hundreds of students are members of a history-making three separate St. Philip’s College early college high school classes walking the stage, including first classes from the St. Philip’s College Early College High School with San Antonio Independent School District and the St. Philip’s College Early College High School with Seguin Independent School District. Once the college’s Spring 2018 commencement ceremony on May 11 is over, one of those St. Philip’s College Early College High School with SAISD students---Mark Pantoja---will serve as a valedictorian-with-college-degree when his school’s first-ever graduation ceremony takes place in June. (Graphic image courtesy SAISD, and rehearsal image SPC Image by Julysa Sosa)