Chelsea Johnson is currently attending El Camino High School, earning an outstanding GPA that exceeds 4.0. As a child, Chelsea was forced to overcome much adversity within her family, and is now being raised by her two loving grandparents. Instead of being defeated by the hardships she has faced, Chelsea has set her focus on learning and education. She has pledged to achieve success and self-satisfaction in her life by setting extremely high goals for herself. To this day, she has met many of these goals, including maintaining the highest possible GPA at her grade level, performing community service, and learning to play both the viola and the classical guitar. Chelsea aspires to attend UC Berkeley in Northern California to study medicine.  Although she considers herself a work in progress, Chelsea knows that she is on the road to a bright future.

Juan Juarez is currently a Senior attending El Camino High School. His parents are immigrants from Mexico who did not have the opportunity to attain an education. Even though Juan’s family is facing difficult medical and financial issues, they have been fully supportive of his academic endeavors. Juan hopes to make his parents proud by being the first in his family to attend a four-year university.  He also wants to serve as a role model to his younger brother by showing that success is possible. He believes that any dream can become a reality with hard work and determination, and that how you live today will shape who you become in the future. Juan hopes to pursue a career as either a sports agent or an air force fighter pilot.

Kenneth Kish comes from a family of givers. When his mother went through testing in 2004 in an attempt to donate one of her kidneys to her ailing husband, she discovered she had Stage 4 kidney cancer. She is still battling this cancer daily. His father has undergone two kidney transplants and suffers from chronic ill health. But in spite of all of this, Kenny considers himself blessed, and he credits his faith and the love of sports for getting him through the obstacles he has faced thus far in his life. "God and my great family are the two things that will forever be with me, no matter what difficult circumstances come my way," he said. Captain of both the Junior Varsity football and baseball team in his sophomore year at El Camino High School, Kenny said that when he steps out onto the freshly-cut green grass, "I suddenly become worry free." Nevertheless, Kenny said he feels a tremendous weight on his shoulders to do well in school. Maintaining a GPA of 4.0, Kenny wants to graduate from a top-ranked university, become a professional athlete, and enter into public service. "I want to help others, as other heroes have helped my family," he said. The principal at Oceanside High said that Kenny "has a quiet confidence. He is humble, yet very generous and willing to help others. He is a young man of impeccable character who works hard every day." Kenny's motto in life could best be summed up this way: "Live every day like it's your last, because the next day is never promised." The Simon Foundation is proud to walk with him in his journey.

Brandon Le is a Senior at El Camino High School with an impressive GPA exceeding 4.0. Having been raised predominately by a single father, he has faced many difficulties, both financially and personally. However, Brandon believes that these obstacles have served as his strong motivation to succeed. This hardworking young man is a pole-vaulter on his school’s Varsity Track Team. He also volunteers as a Peer Math Tutor and, in addition, helps out with the audio-visual equipment at his church. Excelling in math and science, Brandon aims to major in aerospace engineering in college and ultimately work for NASA.

Colin Leighton is a Girard Prep Scholar and a Senior at Oceanside High School. He is involved with several sports programs, playing on both the Soccer and Baseball teams at his high school. He is also a talented musician who plays the guitar, ukulele and piano. Colin volunteers by helping young children affected by AIDS, and also works with Special Needs children. At the age of four, Colin lost his father to leukemia. He and his twin brother Kyle are the youngest of four boys being raised by a hardworking single mom. Colin plans on attending a four-year university after high school and possibly majoring in Sociology. He believes that attaining a higher education is an important step in gaining the confidence, knowledge and opportunity needed to achieve life success.