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MCHS Valedictorians: Mary Ginoza

Students with cumulative GPAs of 4.0 are named valedictorians at Mira Costa High School. This year, we salute 16 students. Check back in the coming days to read about their accomplishments, passions and college plans.

Mary Ginoza looks forward to being on her own at UC Berkeley and spreading the thrill of naginata among her future classmates.

Patch: Where are you going to college and what will you study?

Ginoza: I'm going to UC Berkeley. I'm still very undecided, but right now I'm considering majoring in linguistics. I started being interested when in high school I took four years of Latin. It's always interesting how Latin words were turned into English words. In English class, we read an essay by Noam Chomsky, a famous linguist, and I thought that was really interesting.

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Patch: Do you speak any other languages?

Ginoza: Right now, I know English and Latin, but I'm hoping to start learning Japanese this summer.

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Patch: Why Japanese?

Ginoza: One of the reasons is that a lot of my relatives on my grandfather's side are from Okinawa. I also watch anime and read manga all the time, so it's something I've wanted to learn for a while.

Patch: What are some of your best memories of high school?

Ginoza: One of my favorite things was being in the game club, which is also called "applied theoretical strategies." Basically, we met after school every day to play games. I met a lot of people who [became] my best friends. In the club, we played board games, card games, Dungeons & Dragons. We would try to bring in new games that people haven't played before, even obscure games like Chrononauts. We would also meet up to do classics, I think I played the one game that's the game that everyone plays, called Settlers of Catan. That's the first game I played in that club, and it was the game we played on the last day of club.

Patch: Any other activities that you were involved in during high school?

Ginoza: Another thing that I did outside of high school was naginata. It's a Japanese martial art that uses a weapon kind of like a spear, like a stabbing blade. It has a longer blade that curves a little, and it's actually really fun. It's pretty obscure in the U.S., with only about 200 people. I've probably met most of the people who've done it in Southern California. It's such a small community; I've met national champions and international champions.

Patch: How did you first hear about naginata?

Ginoza: I was actually looking up fencing classes at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. I was looking down [at a class schedule] and saw it. I went to a practice, and I thought, "It's really, really cool. This is something I want to do."

Patch: Being valedictorian, you must have worked really hard at school. What does it take to excel?

Ginoza: It was a lot of late-night studying. The number of AP [classes] went up from freshman year. Freshman year, I went to bed at 9; sophomore year, got to bed at 10:45 or 11; junior year, got to bed at 11:45.

Patch: And now, senior year, it's past midnight?

Ginoza: Now it's gone down.

Patch: Oh good, you get to relax!

Ginoza: Even though it was a lot of work, it was good that I did more work because I learned so much more from putting in more time.

Patch: What are you looking forward to at Berkeley?

Ginoza: Being someplace different. It's still California, but the culture is different, the weather's different, the people are different. It's something I'm really looking forward to. I've lived here all my life, so I want to experience something completely new. It'll be the first time that I'm completely on my own.

Patch: Any last thoughts about your community here in Manhattan Beach?

Ginoza: High school was great, friends were supportive. This community has been so helpful. People support me, and give me the chance to do everything I've wanted to. People are always willing to talk to me. It's been really great here.

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