ALA Class of 2022
Keynote Speaker
Bella Villarreal

Bella is enrolling at Grinnell College in Iowa to double major in mathematics and theatre.

How have SAISD schools shaped you into the person you are today?

I went to Bonham Academy for elementary school and sixth grade and I came to ALA in seventh grade and I’ve been here ever since.

The schools I’ve chosen to go to have given me a lot of freedom to invest my time how I would like to, which is really nice. The schools I’ve chosen to go to have been more aligned with the liberal arts future that I’m heading towards.

Grinnell is an open curriculum school. I actually think it’s probably very aligned with ALA and I really do want to go and create a relationship between ALA and Grinnell, because it’s a really great school, and they’re seventh for schools that send their students to doctoral programs at the highest-ranked colleges. They’re open curriculum which is what I was looking. I was blessed with a knowledge of what I liked doing, so I really want to go and take the courses that I’m excited about.
 
Who has been most influential to you in your education this far?

In elementary school, I had a really amazing theatre teacher, Ms. Clifford, who was really great about growing out the theatre community in the school and pushing us to grow. I actually didn’t get into the first couple of shows that I auditioned for. I think part of the reason that I became kind of obsessed with theatre and math are that they were the subjects that I’ve had to work hardest for. She was really impactful to me then.
 
My dad has always been there fostering my interest in math. In the sixth grade when one of my peers tested up into Algebra I, and I was messing around in my sixth-grade math class, he really encouraged me to test up. My dad has really been very encouraging throughout the math process.
 
Mr. King is probably the teacher here most recently who’s had the strongest influence on me. He’s always been there any time I needed something with math, like a little guardian angel. Whenever I get here early in the mornings, I would go to his class, and for a while they had a chess club during that time. People would be playing chess and other people would come in with their math problems; it was really fun. It was a bunch of math nerds hanging out. 
 
I think the class of 2022 has a lot of different goals. The thing that I want most for them as that when they go out after ALA and pursue different things, I hope they continue to foster a beautiful community and spread love in the way that we have here. We are so close and so small, and we’ve learned a lot about how to have really close relationships. I hope that everybody continues to foster that sense of love in their relationships in the future.

Advanced Learning Academy
Class of 2022

Graduation Candidates

Seven Aguirre

John Kieran Ahlen

Joel Francisco Anguiano

Jeremy Ray Ayala

Connor Morgan Bustos

Kaleigh Cansino

Jeremy Andre Franco Cantu

Israel Cervantes

Jacob Edward Corona

Joe Anthony De La Fuente

Guilebaldo Elizondo IV

Isabella Luna Garcia

Emiliano Garza

Melanie Elizabeth Garza

Diego Luca Gomez

Joseph Gomez II

Clarissa Gloriana Gutierrez

Moses Elijah Herrera

Felipe De Jesus Hidalgo

Jonas Ezra Hinojosa

Timothy James Huff

Jimmy Klein

Felice Savannah Martinez

Anahi Carolina Miranda Flores

Elias Alejandro Navarro Moreno 

Ileana Joselyn Pena

Emily Grace Perez

Robert Michael Quijano III

Mercy Grace Quintero

Joshua James Rodriguez

Miguel Christian Salazar

Stefan Vincent Sanchez

Destinie Hope Sharp

Sophia Virginia Shelton

Zoey Denise Silva

Lily Ray Stanford

Blake Edward Stevens

Taylor Alan Trout

America Elizabeth Villarreal

Bella Lincoln Villarreal

Lists of graduates will be refreshed as schools send updates.