Overview:
Two recently graduated students at Coronado High, who gave speeches at their graduation ceremony on June 12, find themselves with parallel plans moving forward. For both valedictorian Jaya Jost and salutatorian Dylan Nasori, their lives were transformed after each of their dads were diagnosed with cancer. Today, they head off to separate colleges with one vision in mind: to bring an end to the illness.
Each year, the Islander Leadership Team (ILT) — comprised of teachers from departments, counseling and administration at Coronado High School — selects the valedictorian and salutatorian. The top academic students in each graduating class is determined by the highest grade point average resulting from successful completion of graduation requirements which culminate in 230 credits within four years.
Jaya Jost was overwhelmed with joy and relief when she learned she had been admitted to her dream school.
“I went into my room and I closed my doors and I didn’t tell anyone I was opening the portal and then I opened it,” said Jost, describing the moment she learned about her admission to UCLA as a fall 2025 applicant.
And there it was: “CONGRATULATIONS YOU’RE #UCLABOUND”
“I was just like bawling,” she added.
Jost, 18, the 2025 Coronado High School valedictorian, is heading off to UCLA to study chemical and biomolecular engineering.
She said she was drawn to those fields because of her family and her interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Her father is an emergency room doctor and her mother is a physical therapist. Her grandparents also studied engineering in college.
She said she hopes to make an impact in the future by making better treatments for cancer and other resistant diseases.
“When I was in middle school, my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and that was just something that really impacted me,” she added. “I would love to discover a cure for cancer or a cure for a disease that has been around and, like, there’s no way to treat it.”
Jost is a student athlete, volunteer and leader in Coronado.
In the past four years, Jost said she participated on the surf team and in varsity cross country, where she was a captain her junior and senior years. She also played varsity lacrosse in her freshman and sophomore years and joined the varsity track team her junior year.
As a freshman, Jost founded and became president of Coronado High School’s crochet club. She’s completed art projects, including several murals around town and school.
Jost was president of the National Honor Society, volunteered in homeless and refugee shelters in Tijuana, earned her EMT certification at Miramar College and worked in Coronado at MooTime Creamery and Parakeet Juicery. Before heading off to college, she plans to work at High Tide Bottle Shop and Kitchen over the summer, where she helped complete a mural.
“My favorite high school memories have been hanging out with my friends,” she said. “I also really liked cross country, getting to know a bunch of the girls on the team and just connecting with people.”
Jost said she’s grateful to many faculty members including Tam Hoang, her English teacher, Gabriel Garcia and Claire Xia, her physics teachers, as well as Sandra Davis, her math teacher and the district’s lead counselor, Kristen Ereno for their guidance on academics and life advice.
On graduation day, Jost instilled hope among fellow 2025 graduates, reminding them that if they survived zoom classes and masks, they can survive whatever comes next.
Graduating with a 4.76 GPA, Jost said she’s honored to be valedictorian, adding, “It feels really crazy. It’s like even like hard for me to like process.”
