Both have résumés that would be the envy of any high school graduate: sterling grades, hours of volunteering, awards galore.
But beyond their personal goals, Jedesa Alatorre and Haide Hernandez also share a particular passion for helping others — not only their peers at St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood, but those in the community.
Members of the Class of 2025 at St. Mary’s, the oldest continuously operating Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Alatorre and Hernandez both plan to pursue careers in health care after college.
Both owe a lot to their success at the private, all-girls high school to loving and encouraging support from their parents. And both say faith continues to be a core part of their lives.
Jedesa Alatorre
When Alatorre was a fifth-grader at Immaculate Conception School in downtown LA, a retired NASA engineer came to speak to her class.
“Jedesa asked him a question that blew his mind,” recalled her father, Sergio. “He told her if she ever wants to go into the engineering field, he will do whatever it takes to help her.”
Teachers urged Alatorre’s parents to allow her to skip grades, but they resisted.
“We wanted her to live out her childhood in as normal a way as possible,” Sergio said.
He and his wife, Denise, knew Alatorre was academically gifted. She began reading at an early age and her TV time was mostly reserved for educational programs.
“I always loved school,” Alatorre said. “I grew up with such encouraging parents that it just became part of who I was. Trying hard came naturally to me. I have a strong sense of self-motivation. And once I got to high school, I also applied myself outside of the classroom.”
That she did. But first, the academics.
Alatorre was valedictorian at St. Mary’s Academy and graduated with a weighted GPA of 4.65.
Like Hernandez, she participated in the Onward Scholars Program (OSP), a competitive scholarship and enrichment program for selected high school students with strong academic backgrounds.
Michele Rice, program director of OSP at St. Mary’s Academy, recalled seeing Alatorre at a homecoming volleyball game.
“I watched her find a seat next to our school’s math tutor to go over AP Calculus problems in between cheering for our team,” Rice said.
Alatorre’s honors at St. Mary’s include California Scholarship Federation and National Honor Society. She was also designated as a Hispanic Scholarship Fund scholar. She also won a College Board National Hispanic Recognition Award and an AP Scholar with Distinction Award. Alatorre co-founded and was vice president of the Girl Talk Club at her high school.
The club, she said, is a space “where sisterhood blooms to combat a cliquey atmosphere by facilitating open conversations on topics such as self-care and female empowerment.”
Outside of school, Alatorre spent more than 300 hours volunteering at the Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children in Los Angeles, where she provided care to low-income youth.
She also worked at Jenesse Center’s Jeneration J Youth Council, where she organized and spoke at events to promote awareness among youth minorities about abuse, mental health, and self-love.
She will attend Stanford University to pursue a degree in human biology. She’s applying for the Summer Bridge Program to start a month early. Her goal is to work in sports medicine, and her dream job is to be the team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Haide Hernandez
Among Hernandez’s many activities at St. Mary’s was serving as a peer tutor.
“While I’m a fast learner, I often see others who struggle more than I do, so I extend a helping hand to them and offer them tutoring,” she said.
Hernandez’s upbringing hasn’t been without struggle. Until she was 8, she and her family lived in a garage. Her father worked three jobs so her mother could raise her and her two little brothers, Ivan and Eddie.
“My parents have shown me what true hard work looks like,” Hernandez said. “Their sacrifices and perseverance are what motivate me to push through any challenges I face in life.”
Hernandez doesn’t merely push through challenges. She shatters them: this month, she graduated as St. Mary’s salutatorian with a weighted GPA of 4.62.
Among the organizations she belonged to were the Academy Group, Thrive Scholars Academies Los Angeles, National Society of High School Scholars, and the California Scholarship Federation.
At St. Mary’s, she served on the Student Leadership Council as vice president and secretary, and president of the Anime Club.
“Knowing that I have two younger brothers looking up to me motivates me to keep striving for success,” Hernandez noted. “I want to show them that nothing is impossible and be someone they can count on.
“I love my siblings deeply — they’re the greatest gift God has given me and have played a huge role in shaping who I am today, especially when it comes to my self-discipline and dedication to school.”
Rice recalled being impressed by how when applying to St. Mary’s Academy, Hernandez took control of the application process “translating the forms and procedures to her parents and completing all of the requirements herself.”
“Her ability to express herself in writing and her devotion to her faith and family were especially impressive.”
Like Alatorre, Hernandez also volunteered at Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children.
Hernandez also served as an intern at MLK Community Healthcare Career Fellows Program and a tutor at Urban Scholar Academy, where she provided individualized tutoring in Math and English to local elementary school students.
Hernandez will be attending the University of Notre Dame and plans to pursue neuroscience or biochemistry as a major in preparation for a career as a neurosurgeon.
As the daughter of immigrant parents, Hernandez said she’s “always been shaped by their dreams — the courage it took to leave their families, their country, and everything they knew in search of a future where their children could have a better life than they did.
“Seeing their faces light up when my name would be called for an award or honor filled me with pride; it felt like I was honoring the sacrifices they made.”
