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Nomongo Dorjsuren chats with friends before the Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School graduates toss their hats in the air at the end of commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Nomongo Dorjsuren (center) crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Patti Hess, right, who was in the first graduating class of Gov. Thomas Johnson High School in 1967, gives her grandson, Sean Barrick, a kiss as he prepares to graduate Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Maya Johnson does a celebration dance as she crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tueaday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Nomongo Dorjsuren chats with friends before the Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Nomongo Dorjsuren chats with friends before the Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Nomongo Dorjsuren chats with friends before the Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School graduates toss their hats in the air at the end of commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Nomongo Dorjsuren (center) crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Patti Hess, right, who was in the first graduating class of Gov. Thomas Johnson High School in 1967, gives her grandson, Sean Barrick, a kiss as he prepares to graduate Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Maya Johnson does a celebration dance as she crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tueaday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
In a sea of red polyester, with a bit of royal blue and white, Gov. Thomas Johnson High School’s Class of 2017 transitioned from high school seniors to graduates Tuesday in a ceremony full of musical talent, words of wisdom and tradition.
For the second consecutive year, the school’s drum line led the recessional with a toe-tapping rendition of “TJ Cadence.” The performance wrapped up the ceremony, which was the second in a line of Frederick County high school graduations this week.
Thomas Johnson High’s graduating class was full of accomplished seniors, including student speaker Emily Anne Robinson, a leader in the National Honor Society and Rho Kappa, the school’s representative for Girls State, and member of the unified tennis team, softball team, and concert and jazz band.
Also Nadia Bah, winner of the student Golden Patriot Award and member of the Patriot Council. Not to mention Darius Ronald Jordan, senior leader of the Patriot Council; Senior Class Treasurer Jessica Marie Cabacungan; and Jesunomofe John Ogundeyi, vice president of the Necktie Club. The trio collectively presented Golden Patriot Awards to Bah and math teacher Vince Poska. The award is presented annually to one school staff member and one student who represent Frederick County Public Schools’ pillars of character.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Maya Johnson does a celebration dance as she crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tueaday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Nomongo Dorjsuren (center) crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Nomongo Dorjsuren chats with friends before the Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Patti Hess, right, who was in the first graduating class of Gov. Thomas Johnson High School in 1967, gives her grandson, Sean Barrick, a kiss as he prepares to graduate Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School graduates toss their hats in the air at the end of commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Maya Johnson does a celebration dance as she crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tueaday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School grad Nomongo Dorjsuren (center) crosses the stage to accept her diploma Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Nomongo Dorjsuren chats with friends before the Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Patti Hess, right, who was in the first graduating class of Gov. Thomas Johnson High School in 1967, gives her grandson, Sean Barrick, a kiss as he prepares to graduate Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School graduates toss their hats in the air at the end of commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary’s University’s Knott Arena.
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School commencement exercises Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's University Knott Arena.
Dan Gross
Then there’s Nomongo Dorjsuren, the senior color guard captain who earned full tuition to Johns Hopkins University, an acceptance to MIT and other accolades, despite having to overcome a number of challenges after a devastating fire that left her virtually homeless her junior year.
“Living off of pizza and studying on the floor is not an ideal situation,” Dorjsuren said via email Tuesday, hours before she walked across the stage at Mount St. Mary’s University and accepted her diploma.
“Before I got new glasses I sat right up against the board in classrooms to see what was going on,” she continued, recalling the days and weeks after the fire. “For weeks I recycled the same few outfits and had to borrow a friend’s house whenever I needed a computer. When I could not find a ride to [color guard] practice, I had to run, leaving an hour earlier to get there.”
The day of the fire, Aug. 29, 2015, stood out for Dorjsuren. But it is far from the only thing that makes her stand out among the 332 graduates in the school’s Class of 2017.
Dorjsuren joked in her email that she has “a problem with overcommitment.”
From her color guard captain duties, which included being a mentor for underclassmen, to participating in an internship that had her putting in 40-hour weeks beginning the summer before her junior year, to taking part in academic team tournaments on weekends, Dorjsuren kept busy throughout high school. She also volunteered at Frederick Memorial Hospital, took three Advanced Placement courses and picked up a part-time job as a waitress at the Vietnamese restaurant Lucky Corner.
The work and dedication to her commitments has paid off, which is evident in the college acceptances she received, and humbly declined to list.
Dorjsuren, who is Mongolian, also overcame a few other obstacles to get to where she is. Although she grew up in Frederick and has always been a U.S. citizen, she faced questions about her citizenship while applying to college.
“I am a citizen, I gained automatic citizenship through my parents, for some reason there was an issue when schools attempted to confirm this through the social security department,” Dorjsuren said in the email. “So for every college I applied to, they asked me to drive down with my citizenship certificate so they could verify this personally. And that becomes a pretty impossible task if you applied to schools all up and down the east coast.”
Dorjsuren said the issue was annoying, but behind her now, as she is enrolled and ready to take the next step.
In doing that, she was leery to discuss her plans, saying that “kids are fickle.” She mentioned a possible pre-med path, but she recognized how much she has changed since she started school, which she said is an indication that sometimes you just cannot predict where you will end up.
“I just think about how radically different a person I’ve become in the past what, 14 years of my life starting from Pre-K at Monocacy Elementary school, and I just think that it’s mindblowing that my diploma encompasses my education,” Dorjsuren said in her email. “I don’t think I’m the same person at all, it feels like awarding the same paper to about 6 different people to me.”
Follow Mallory Panuska on Twitter: @MalloryPanuska.
