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Dunbar Elementary School

Student of the Year series

Dunbar Elementary School has selected fifth-graders Jaymee Pearce and Steward Ramirez as the school’s Students of the Year.

Jaymee Pearce has been at Dunbar since kindergarten, and is regarded by all as a kind, generous and well-rounded girl who has excelled academically at Dunbar since day one. She always gives her best effort and she consistently appears on the school’s Honor Roll and list of attendance award winners. Pearce is also helpful throughout the school community, serving as a peer tutor and as an informal assistant to her classroom teacher, Brandy Melendy.

Pearce is active outside the classroom as well, keeping busy with a variety of extra-curricular activities, including Student Leadership, sports and fundraising for breast cancer awareness. She is described by the Dunbar administration as going “above and beyond” at school and in her community.

Steward Ramirez is a new student at Dunbar this year. He has stepped in and excelled academically, and has quickly shown himself to be a leader and a good friend to all. Ramirez’ teachers say that he has shown courage, integrity and perseverance in acclimating to his new school. As a second-language learner, Ramirez was redesignated fluent in 2011 and his determination to master English has made him an excellent role model for others.

Despite being a new student, Ramirez was voted chairperson of Dunbar’s Student Leadership, where he runs meetings attended by more than 35 students. He came up with the idea of presenting trophies to students who score “advanced” in the STAR testing in language arts or math, an idea that thrilled and motivated his fellow students.

Ramirez loves to read, and outside of school, he and his family enjoy going on walks together.

While Ramirez is somewhat quiet, his fellow students and teachers at Dunbar look forward to continuing to getting to know him even better this year.

Congratulations to these hard-working and inspiring young students on this honor, and to their families and teachers for encouraging their academic and personal success.

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This article is the second in a series this year profiling each Student of the Year honored in Sonoma.