USC-bound Canyon Lake grad named valedictorian

BY Ariana Shah

Lifetime Canyon Lake resident Jake Hosking, 18, focused on earning valedictorian four years ago as he entered Murrieta Mesa High School as a freshman. He set goals and then worked diligently to fulfill them. He stood in front of his graduating class yesterday and offered the Valedictory address as the school’s top student.

“He’s been a very busy young man these past four years,” Patti Hosking, Jake’s mother, said. “But boy, did his hard work pay off!”

Jake Hosking sports a hoodie from the University of Southern California where he’ll be attending in the fall. Jake graduated yesterday from Murrieta Mesa High School as its valedictorian. Photo provided by Patti Hosking.

Paid off, indeed. The former Canyon Lake Youth of the Year grinded his way to a cumulative grade point average of 4.6, which launched him into his dream school of University of Southern California.

The academic hard work is only part of the story. Jake trekked all the way to Murrieta to attend a school 15 miles from Canyon Lake. He said he chose to transfer to the school because of its Navy Junior ROTC program.

In Jake’s speech to his fellow 648 graduates, he encouraged them to adapt to life. He said the senior class of 2021 will be known for its preservation. They are “alive and thriving” and ready for the future, he told them.

Throughout his high school experience, Jake participated in a multitude of extracurricular activities and he excelled in everything in which he participated.

His athletic endeavors included being on his school’s junior varsity water polo team for three years and the mountain bike team.

Jake, as mentioned, was also a member of the Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at his school where he was an Honor Cadet for three years.

Jake’s academic excellence has not gone unnoticed. He has received awards such as the College Boards AP Scholar Award with Distinction, He has earned 4‐5s on all of his Advanced Placement Exams.

Outside of school, Jake was an accomplished Boy Scout. He is one of only 490 Boy Scouts to have ever earned every merit badge that is offered. (His brother Ryan is one of the other 489.) The 137 merit badges were earned on his way to obtaining Scouting’s highest rank, Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Project, he raised funds and organized the construction of a flagpole at Happy Camp.

Jake was named the Canyon Lake Youth of the Year in 2018 by the Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce.

“These awards and distinctions make me so proud of Jake. He’s a self-driven, hardworking man,” Patti said. “However, the proudest I’ve ever been of him was when he helped me out and took care of me while my father, who has now passed away, was in the hospital. Jake is just amazing.”

With graduation behind him, Jake is now headed to USC this fall and will major in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. His goal is to eventually become an ethics officer for a larger corporation and provide human consciences to its practices.