Huula Kolb shared the story of her academic transformation from a struggling freshman in Arizona to graduating early during her Montecito High School commencement speech on June 3.
Kolb, 18, the class valedictorian, credits much of her success earning a 3.8 grade point average to her teachers — math instructor Adam Vickery, construction teacher Nicholas Jordan and science teacher John Chan.
“Without them I wouldn’t be graduating early with honors and I wouldn’t have been the valedictorian,” said Kolb, the daughter of Isaac Kolb. “When I came to Montecito, my grades were not good. I was a failing student and I was not looking at graduating on time.”
She said her favorite classes at Montecito have been math and construction. Vickery expanded her knowledge of math and made her love the subject, she said. Jordan gave her the inspiration to take three years of construction classes and to pursue a construction career, possibly in architectural design, she added.
Both subjects gave her the tools to pursue her dream.
“When it comes down to the drawing aspect, you have to put in a lot of school time to learn about how architectural designers produce their work,” Kolb said. “There’s a difference in what you do in school versus the real world. It needs to be written or done in a specific way for people to understand it.”
Montecito Principal Melissa Marovich said Kolb’s transformation as been “remarkable.” When Kolb arrived in the middle of her sophomore year, she was struggling socially, personally and academically, but she quickly became one of the strongest students on campus, Marovich said.
“Huula is known for her determination and strong work ethic,” she said. “No matter the task, she gives her full effort – whether she’s learning a new concept or revisiting familiar material. She doesn’t settle for just enough, but pushes herself to master what she’s learning.”
Kolb’s success is driven by more than just intelligence — it’s her willingness to work hard that sets her apart, Marovich said.
Montecito science, art and yearbook teacher John Chan said Kolb’s presence on campus will be greatly missed.
“She was the perfect Montecito student,” Chan said. “I hope for students like Huula at the start of every school year.”
Kolb put her skills to the test during the state SkillsUSA contest held April 11-12 at the Ontario Convention Center. She won a Gold Medal for placing first in the Individual Carpentry category of the trades competition.
Her project was to build a small structure on a 4-by-8 platform.
“We had a total of six go seven hours to build it, and I finished in about four hours,” she said. “I finished quite early. I thought I was going relatively slowly, but then I looked up and realized I was going fast.”
As the state Gold Medalist in the category, she’ll be representing California in the national SkillsUSA Championships set for June 23-27 in Atlanta. The event will feature more than 6,500 state champions from across the United States competing head-to-head in 114 skilled and leadership competitions, according to SkillsUSA.org.
“I think I do have a chance at winning as long as I apply myself as much as I did in the last competition and just put my best foot forward,” Kolb said. “This is going to be a very, very tough competition. There’s going to be phenomenal people there. Every state has their representative and I think it’s a high honor to represent California.”
An early graduate who completed her coursework six months ago, Kolb has started working at the Dollar Tree store to save for attending either Palomar or Grossmont Community College in another year. She recently received a $750 scholarship from Soroptimist International of Ramona and a $1,000 scholarship from the Ramona Chamber of Commerce.
Kolb said she was surprised to find out she would be the Class of 2025’s Valedictorian.
“That was not a goal at first,” she said. “It only recently became a goal six or eight months ago. Before that I hadn’t even thought I would graduate with honors.”
