Cathedral City Mayor Rita Lamb and the City Council unveiled two new street signs on Thursday, June 1, 2023, to honor two high school students from Cathedral City for their academic excellence.
The Annual Student Street Naming Ceremonies will recognize Ms. Priscila Marquez of Cathedral City High School and Mr. Landon Kuykendall of Mount San Jacinto High School by renaming the street adjacent to their respective schools for one year.
Priscila Marquez
Cathedral City High School student Priscila Marquez was awarded with a $50,000 scholarship to prepare her for a future career in STEM! She was presented with a special Certificate of Recognition from Mayor and City Council at the Taste of Jalisco Festival back in February 2023 and received the Mayor’s Award at this year’s State of the City event in May 2023. This high school standout tutors other students, has built a website, and is involved in pre-professional organizations. She does it all while balancing a job as a cashier at an El Pollo Loco in Palm Desert on Fridays and Saturdays to help support the family. Both her parents, Ana, and Hector, immigrated to the United States from the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Priscila was one of the 30 Edison Scholars who received the scholarship from Southern California Edison (SCE). She also has the opportunity to participate in the paid summer internship in the organization: https://www.edison.com/community/edison-scholars.
Landon Kuykendall
Landon earned a 4.0 each quarter while at Mt. San Jacinto High School. It was surprising to see that he was credit deficient considering how incredibly responsible and reliable he proved to be while at MSJ. However, the COVID-19 pandemic really affected Landon in his early high school years. He fell extremely behind with the independent learning and then gave up altogether academically. When he started at Mt. San Jacinto High School, he truly took advantage of his second chance and the opportunity to get caught up to earn his diploma. He had worked a few Heating & Air Conditioning jobs with a family friend, so when he learned about the Heating & Air Conditioning program at Mt. San Jacinto High School, he was excited to sign up for the classes. He has excelled in HVAC and is a standout according to the instructor. He completed two HVAC classes, graduated high school early in December, and continued at College of the Desert as an early college enrollee. He will be done with 5 HVAC classes by the end of this school year and his instructor will be helping him obtain a job in the industry.
