School: River Ridge High School in Lacey.
Parents or guardians: Jennifer Vallejo and Juan Balanzar.
Best personal achievement: Being able to wake up every morning and see my mom, then go to school and see my friends and my girlfriend while being able to further my knowledge and have fun.
How I spend my time: With friends and family. I love to spend time with my mom playing cards.
Favorite subjects: Math and marketing.
Favorite movie: There are too many to choose from; I don’t really have a favorite movie.
Favorite book: “Airborn” by Kenneth Oppel.
Dream job: Being the CEO and president of a company that I build.
Someone I respect: To be honest, there are two people that I know earn my respect every day, and that’s Mr. (Bruce) Brewer and my mom.
The hardest part of being a student is: Juggling school work, being home, and still having a social life.
My future ambitions or career aspirations include: Working in the business field, starting as a manager and working my way up.
Someone famous I would like to meet: I have always wanted to meet Drew Brees.
Someday, looking back on my life, I’ll be able to say: “I am sure glad I joined DECA my junior year.”
Biggest challenge facing teenagers today: Living under the pressure of starting the rest of your life knowing that everything you do now can affect how you live as an adult.
One thing in the world I would change if I could: I would try to help put an end to world hunger because I know if it were me that was starving I would want someone to help.
Nominated by: Marketing teacher Bruce Brewer, who wrote, “Ricky is a second-year marketing student and student manager for the RRHS Student Store. Ricky and two other students submitted a DECA manual for the student store, and it has qualified them to attend the National DECA Conference in Orlando, Fla. To help raise funds for his trip, Ricky is helping pick up trash this semester on the River Ridge campus.”
