Each month, Cathedral selects a student and staff member that best lives out the Holy Cross Core Values. The Holy Cross Value for the month of February was Inclusiveness and Diversity, which Ponce was recognized for her great contributions and modeling of these core values.
Inclusivity means a lot to Ponce. When she found out she had been nominated for student of the month, she said, “It means a lot to me because there isn’t much representation about Latinos at Cathedral High School and so when I was nominated it truly meant a lot to be able to represent Latinos and our culture on my behalf.”
Ponce said, “If you want to have something happen you have to be up there, you have to open yourself up, you have to try and learn to talk to people.” Embracing these core values are important to her, she knows that many others struggle to be included and sees it all the time around her. This is exactly why she strives to be inclusive and does her best to bring laughter and joy upon others.
English educator Megan Howell said, “She has this unique ability to lead her peers which I think is fairly rare for someone at the high school age.” She steps up as a leader in LSU when she sees the opportunity available. Ponce strongly connects with the members of LSU and brings plenty of club cohesion. Howell continued, “She leads with joy, and she prioritizes doing things that build community.”
Ponce analyzes the situations and finds ways to make the most out of them. She brings together the students and builds a special bond with her peers through all that she does. Ponce does everything with a contagious bright smile on her face, she spreads positivity and brings out the best in others while encouraging and supporting her peers to do the same.
Howell and another English Educator, Shiva Thinakal, have encouraged Ponce to be more open with not only herself but with others, to put herself out there and want to be the cause for a positive change. They have changed her mindset on how she can grow as a leader while acknowledging the importance of always spreading positivity and kindness through the core values of Inclusiveness and Diversity.
Howell said, “She embraces the differences because she views them as things that make people unique, particularly interesting, and particularly valuable and having a diversity of perspectives, a diversity of world views and having a diverse group of people seems important to her. She likes to know, hear and understand others’ points of view to bring everybody onto common ground.”
