The San Diego County Public Defender’s Office announced the 25 Most Remarkable Teens Award recipients of 2022, which include two Chula Vista teens.
University of Southern California freshman and recent Olympian High School graduate Lucia Perez Valles,18, earned the Remarkable Teen Award in Social Conscience, and 16-year-old Bonita Vista High School junior Nicolette Luna recieved the award in the category of Journalism.
Both were recognized on Nov.9 at San Diego County’s annual “25 Most Remarkable Teens” ceremony held on the top floor of the downtown San Diego Central Library. The program shines a light on youths between the ages of 13 and 19 who excel in a variety of areas, including leadership, community service, art, innovation, and overcoming adversity.
The honorees were selected by the members of the Public Defender Youth Council, a panel of civically-minded teens, in consultation with San Diego County Public Defender Randy Mize.
Perez Valles’ mother immigrated from Mexico seeking to improve her children’s future. Her family constantly moved between apartments and relied on community members for help with food, education, and clothes.
Nominator, Michelle Hadley-Torres, coordinator for MANA de San Diego says, “Lucia is a natural leader. Her focus is to give back to the community that supported her to get where she is today.”
According to the public defender's office, these adversities, combined with setting the difficulties of accessing healthcare in Mexico fueled her ambition to pursue a career in community health and opened her eyes to the need for civic engagement in Chula Vista.
She was a recipient of a Gold Award as a Girl Scout of ten years for creating and executing the “ Embrace Our Community” summer camp for children ages 7-12 to wean children off cell phones and electronic devices and re-emerge them into “real life”.
Perez Valles led over 25 workshops to educate children about the resources, programs, and facilities that are available to them in San Ysidro to support their success. She also has been a ballet dancer for 9 years with the San Diego Youth Ballet, where she brought ballet to kids with special needs through a program called “Ballet for Me”.
Nicolette Luna took a Southwestern College Journalism class at the age of 14 and climbed the editorial ranks as News Editor at the Southwestern College Sun by the time she was 15 years old. She is an award-winning feature writer and editorialist.
Luna’s work earned three First Place spots at the recent Society of Professional Journalists Banquet, and she was invited to write an op-ed piece for the San Diego Union-Tribune. The California College Media Association, the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists, and the Journalism Association of Community Colleges have each given Nicolette multiple awards.
Luna was also selected by students and faculty to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the 2022 Southwestern College El Sol Magazine. Professor of Journalism at Southwestern College, Dr. Max Branscomb describes Nicolette as “ a cauldron of light and inspiration at her high school, her college, and the regional journalism community.”
She aspires to work in the professional news media as a reporter, then ascends as an editorial leader. She would like to become part of a vanguard of young Latinas working to diversify the American news media and improve its representation of underrepresented journalists.
At Bonita Vista High School, Nicolette is on the Mock Trial team and the Dog Pound club. She enjoys dance and is taking a class learning choreography. Luna is also a committee chair for Bonita Fest.
