Growing up, it was always inculcated in Nicole DeLeon’s mind that going to school was her main job. She religiously followed that advice from her parents.

All the hard work she devoted into that job resulted in being named as co-valedictorian of Manteca High School’s Class of 2012.

She shares the top honor with senior Myklyn Balmut, this year’s Miss Manteca.

Part of the secret of DeLeon’s academic success is largely due to the loving encouragement she has constantly received from her immigrant parents who came to the United States from the Philippines more than 30 years ago in search of greener pastures.

“As a child, I was constantly told how fortunate I was simply by living in America. Accompanying the phrase with stories of his childhood, my dad would frequently say, ‘We live in a land of plenty.’ Growing up in a severely poor family of 12, he would tell me how it was normal for him to go without a meal. He, with my mom, would tell me never to take all that I have for granted. Although I forget sometimes, I continually try to remember how lucky I am,” DeLeon said.

Along with those parental reminders was the lesson about the utmost importance of education.

“Education has always been extremely important to me. This is the mindset my parents instilled in me as a child, and I grew up being told that going to school was my main job. Making my parents proud became a permanent goal, and I set a personal goal of always doing my best,” DeLeon explained.

Fruits of those efforts were the following recognitions received throughout her high school: Scholastic Achievement Awards, Academic Excellence Award, a Sandia National Laboratory Math and Science award, and Student of the Month recognition in October 2010. A job well done is also evidenced by the sterling grades she received. More than half of her grades throughout her four years at Manteca High are A+. There is not a single A- in her transcript.

She takes special pride in that because her grades indicate that not only did she fulfill her “main job” as a student but also “because I know I have worked extremely hard these past four years.”

While she is singularly proud of her academic excellence, DeLeon has not forgotten the value of community service which she considers as “equally valuable in life.” She has been involved in the Manteca Boys and Girls Club telethon, Super Bowl Sunday at the Manteca Senior Center, and was a volunteer in the Crossroads Grace Community Church cleanup of Woodward Park. She also helped raise money in the recent Manteca Relay for Life by covering 10 miles in support of the fight against cancer.

At Manteca High, her involvements include being a member of the Earth Club, the Community Service Club, the California Scholastic Federation, and the Buffaloes’ Campus Beautification Project. She has also been a member of the AP Biology Club, Friends of Rachel Club, and the Spanish Scholars Club. She was a Link Crew leader and an honor division starter for this school  year’s Academic Decathlon when the team placed second overall, and she received a bronze medal for her essay on the novella,”Heart of Darkness.”

DeLeon’s ultimate goal is to become a bona fide member of the elite group of female engineers. She has been accepted to attend California State University, San Jose where she plans to major in industrial engineering as the first step toward her goal of ultimately joining the ranks of “problem-solving engineers.” Her older brother Neil, also a Manteca High graduate, is majoring in the same field at San Jose State.

Becoming a professional engineer is a childhood dream for DeLeon.

“From the very beginning, many felt they knew what my future would hold,” she said. “As a child, my dad would frequently tell me that I would grow up to be an engineer, and I distinctly remember my fifth-grade teacher saying the same to me on the last day of school. With continued hard work and persistence, I plan to make their visions and my dream a reality.”

But while education is a priority for DeLeon, she places “family above everything.” She has a large extended family - largely due to her father being one of 12 children - but the basic family unit that she is “completely devoted to” is the one that is made up of her parents and her brother. Dad is Apolo who is with the Coast Guard. Mom is Arlene, a homemaker.

“We have always been close, and over the years, that is perhaps the only aspect of our lives that has not changed. With loving parents and a loving brother, I am tremendously blessed. My father, who is the sole provider, is beyond hard-working,” DeLeon said.

She has always looked up to her father and brother, she said, “just as I aspire to be like my mother” who has been a sterling example of selfless love and indomitable courage.

“Although she is first and foremost my mother, she is also my best friend and confidant,” DeLeon said. “She is the person I tell my good news to, the person with whom I share my fears, and the person I turn to when I need advice. Selfless and a longtime sufferer of arthritis who refuses to let the painful condition overtake her, she is my one true role model. With her, my dad, and my brother in my life, I know I could not ask for a better family.”