THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606140213
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: A Salute to the Class of '96
SOURCE: BY DAVE ADDIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 75 lines
High school students, as a rule, don't like to have their worlds turned upside down.
That was pretty much Melanie Panza's response when, after her sophomore year at First Colonial High School, she learned that she'd been assigned to Ocean Lakes, the city's newest high school.
``At first I was really depressed,'' Panza said. ``I didn't want to start all over again, I thought it would be awful. I'd lose my old friends. And I play field hockey, so I didn't know what would happen with that. I thought about applying for a waiver.
``But I had some problems at First Colonial, too. There was this boyfriend I wanted to get away from. And there were a lot of cliques, and that could make it hard sometimes to get involved in things.
``So on second thought, I thought maybe a new start would be good. Field hockey is a major priority with me, and the new coach here, Yogi Boothe, had been with ODU and had been to the Olympics, so I knew I could learn a lot from her.
``And it turned out to be the best move I ever made. It's awesome here. I just love Ocean Lakes.''
Ocean Lakes loves Melanie Panza, too. Principal Jerry Deviney said: ``She's just the epitome of Ocean Lakes spirit. She has an amazing diversity of talent, and a willingness to put forth an extraordinarily committed effort for the school.''
It wasn't always that way. ``At First Colonial, I just didn't get involved,'' she said, ``I didn't really have the chance to. It was a lot harder to do the sort of things there that I've done here. It's a more established school, but this, well, this was all brand new.
``The atmosphere here has been awesome, right from the start. The teachers were all new, and they're all so young and everyone was excited and energized. And then Mr. Deviney talked about how he wanted this to be the best school in the nation. It was just a great place to start all over.''
Panza had been an honor roll student through middle school, but her grades slipped as a sophomore.
``I was getting C's and D's at First Colonial,'' she said, ``but when I came here I just started to get involved in everything I could, and the more I got involved, the more my grades went up.''
Funny how that works. It's been all honor roll ever since, she said.
Involvement meant not just field hockey (co-captain), but soccer team, Student Cooperative Association (president), the theater company, Madrigal, production work for the school system's television operation, student announcer and two years as a counselor for the Ocean Lakes High School Leadership Workshop. The latter got her appointed to the citywide Leadership Workshop, which will keep her working full-time through the summer.
Then she leaves for Longwood College, where she'll join her older sister, Jennifer. She'll study communications, play field hockey, and she hopes to become a television broadcaster.
``That really is what I want,'' she said. ``But if that didn't work out for some reason, my backup plan would be to go into education and come back to Ocean Lakes to teach. I will miss Ocean Lakes tremendously.
``This school is still building, and it probably will be building for another five years. With a lot of other students, we've helped start the traditions for this school. I'm proud of that, what we've all been able to do working together.
``It was a lot of fun to start all those things, and it has been a lot of fun to see them through.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
``I was getting C's and D's at First Colonial,'' says Melanie Panza
of her switch to Ocean Lakes, ``but when I came here I just started
to get involved in everything I could, and the more I got involved,
the more my grades went up.'' It's been all honor roll ever since,
she says. by CNB