January 12, 2018

To whom it may concern,

I am honored to recommend Emily Castaneda for your scholarship. It is without a

doubt that I give her my highest recommendation. Emily’s resiliency, leadership,
motivation, drive, charisma, and follow through has earn her the respect of her peers Riley Johnson
and the adults at New Technology High School. She is intelligent, reliable, responsible Principal
E: rjohnson@newtechhigh.org
and motivated. Currently, she has completed 277 credits while most Napa Valley
Unified School District 12th grade students have completed about 180-190 credits. Susan Miller
Assistant Principal
E: smiller@newtechhigh.org
Emily’s most salient strengths are her ability to work with others while taking on a
leadership role. She is responsible, reliable, and hardworking. Her organizational skills Maria Guadalupe
allow her to tackle projects in an efficient matter. Her ability to communicate clearly Martinez-Ramirez
and pursue her goals are perhaps some of her strongest attributes. School Counselor
lramirez@nvusd.org
Emily is a natural leader and continues to seek opportunities to further develop and
grow her leadership skills. I have witnessed her drive, determination, leadership 920 Yount Street
abilities and kindness in my work with her as her high school counselor. I have worked Napa, CA 94559
with Emily for the past three years and five months. This year, however, I have been
given a great gift to know Emily better as she has taken on a great leadership role in P: 707.259.8557
my new established “Peer Mentor Program.” She is the Managing and Administrating F: 707.259.8558
Director of this school-wide-program, and is doing an amazing job to help support my
efforts to support students. www.newtechhigh.org

Emily Castaneda collaborates well with her peers. In a project-based- learning

environment students must learn to work collaboratively with each other in order to
complete cross curricular educational projects. Emily usually takes on a leadership
roles in her groups, while still possessing the ability to be a team player.

Emily’s easy going personality, work-ethic, responsibility and drive has earn her the
respect of her peers, teachers, and adults in our school and community. In fact, these
set of qualities secured her a paid job when she was completing her high school
internship. When one meets Emily is hard not to smile back at her as always greets
everyone with a kind smile and a “hello,” or “How are you?” greeting. Her poise and
adult like, yet fun and easy going personality is very warm and welcoming. These are
just a few of the many qualities that have earn her the respect and friendships in her
life as well as student government positions that she has been selected for. All of us
who have collaborated or worked with Emily know that we can count on her to get
thigs done as she always honors her commitments and promises.

Behind that kind and welcoming smile one would never guess that on top of holding a
job, being a part time college student, and excelling as a New Technology High
School student, Emily has another “full-time-kind of adult job.” Emily is what most of us
would consider a “part time parent” to her younger siblings. With obligations that
include and are not limited to fulfilling expectations such as having to transport her
siblings to and from school, cook for them, and help them with their homework, or
even be their emotional support system. She landed in this situation without having
any control of her circumstances and has compassionately step up to the plate as this
is what is needed from her at home.
Emily has faced major life altering stressors in her life. Her biological father has been absent for most of her
life and most recently her step father has been incarcerated. The two most important men in her life have
essentially abandoned her and she has had no control over the circumstances that have left her with this
enormous grief and emotional gap. The circumstances of their absence and all of the emotions that she
has been left with have not derailed her from perusing her dreams. It appears to me that the traumatic
experiences associated with both of these men have given her the fuel to strive in life. In respect to my
legal confidentially towards Emily, I am not in liberty to share these circumstances and the trauma
associated with their presence and absence in her life. This will be up to Emily to disclose. I will state that I
believe Emily is the kind of recipient you are looking for. Emily’s resiliency, motivation and drive are
outstanding in spite of her life circumstances.

New Technology High School (NTHS) is the most rigorous high school in the Napa Valley Unified School
District (NVUSD). NTHS has additional graduation requirements for students to earn a high school diploma,
in comparison to the other local high schools. In addition to the 220 credits, all students need to complete at
the other high schools, to earn a NVUSD diploma, NTHS requires students to complete 12 CSU/UC
transferable college units, an internship, a digital portfolio, 10 hours of school service hours, and 20
community service hours. New Technology High School is a school of choice; the students who choose to
apply and attend our school know that the academic rigor that will be expected from them exceeds what
they would be expected to fulfill at one of our other “mainstream” high schools in the district.

Emily chose to attend New Technology High School knowing that she would be challenged to her highest
capacity. Emily stepped up to the plate and has successfully made adequate progress towards meeting
graduation requirements on time, from this rigorous school. It is without reservation that I recommend Emily
for this scholarship. She is a talented student and will make great contributions to any university she
attends and to our society. Additionally, she is very determined to pursue her dreams and gets the job
done! It is with no doubt that I would select her if I were sitting in your committee. I guarantee that this
young lady is the kind of student your program was created for. She will succeed and will open doors where
one may not seem to see one. This is the kind of person that she is. Her kindness, motivation, drive, self-
directedness and independence along with her work ethic is not easily matched.

I am pleased and honored to be able to write this letter on her behalf. Should you need further information
on Emily, please do not hesitate to contact me at (707) 259-8557 x 2302.

Sincerely,

Maria Guadalupe Martinez-Ramirez

New Technology High School Counselor