Merced High School

P.O. Box 2167 Merced, California 95344 (209) 385-6466

October 20, 2015

Merced high School
Merced CA
To whom it may concern:
This is a letter of reference on behalf of Shay Hagerman a talented and hard working individual whom I
have come to know over the past year and a half. As a student in my A. P. United States History class, Shay was one
of the top students in the class and earned a 5 on the AP exam in the spring. Shay demonstrated excellent writing and
historical analysis skills, and often participated in discussion of topics covered in class. She was also not afraid to
challenge assumptions or to ask questions. Shays knowledge of the material and strong analytical skills made her a
natural leader in the class, and one area she could improve upon would be take on a more vocal leadership role in the
classroom. Shay has excelled in her other coursework here at Merced High School and challenged herself by taking
multiple AP or Honors courses while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and being ranked second in her class of 406 students.
Shay is well respected by her classmates, and outside of the classroom has also demonstrated her leadership
potential through her involvement in extracurricular activities. She is a four year varsity cross country athlete, and
has been team captain for the past 3 years. Shay is President of Link Crew (a school organization to help freshman
with the transition to high school) and is also President of the Merced County Junior Fair Board. Shay was
nominated and selected by Merced High School teachers and counselors to be the junior representative at Camp
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) which is a camp for promising student leaders.
Outside of academics, Shay comes across as a genuine and sincere individual. In addition to school
activities, Shay also manages her schedule in order to volunteer in the community, where she has volunteered for
over 200 hours at Applegate Zoo and the Merced County Fair Information Booth. Shay comes from a family with
strong values, her older brother is at the naval academy, and Shays strong values and compassion show in her career
interest which is to pursue a degree in Animal Sciences or Biological Engineering to become a Doctor of Veterinary
Sciences.
Shays desire to excel shows that she has the drive and determination to make a strong contribution to
society, and will be successful in whatever career or occupation she chooses. I am pleased to highly recommend her.
If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, feel free to contact me at jsebastian@muhsd.org.

Sincerely,

Joel L. Sebastian
Teacher, Merced High School

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