For East Union High valedictorian Chris Scogna, high school has been a balancing act.

With Advanced Placement classes taking an immense amount of time to prepare for, Scogna has also had to ration his after-school time as a basketball and baseball player – forcing him to stay up late after road trips and spend his weekends making sure that he’s all caught up.

It’s a small price to pay though for the UCLA-bound Scogna, who plans on majoring in biochemistry as a precursor to medical school.

“It’s really all about time management for me with everything that I’ve got going on,” he said. “The key thing is to not procrastinate because once you start doing that it takes hold of you and there really isn’t anything you can do to stop it.”

The French Camp Elementary graduate – the son of Mike Scogna and Jannel Smart – says that his calculus class has been his favorite this year and he’s looking forward to pursuing his studies next year in Westwood.

Getting the chance to fulfill all of the goals that he set for himself at the beginning of his high school career, Scogna said, is a rewarding feeling as he now looks back and finally gets the chance to relax and reflect.

“I’m glad that I did set my goals at the beginning and I’m glad that I was able to accomplish them,” he said. “You only live once, so you should do everything that you can to make it the best. You really do need education because without it you won’t be able to do the things in your life that you want to do.”

But even with a bright future ahead, Scogna says that the thing he’s looking forward to most right now is standing in front of his fellow classmates and delivering his address. It will give him the chance to recap the four years of high school that they all shared together and deliver a message of hope for the future.

“That’s probably going to be the thing that I’m going to remember the most about high school. Standing up there delivering that speech in front of my friends, classmates and family,” Scogna said. “After graduation I’ll finally get a little bit of downtime and a chance to relax – to play a little bit of basketball at the gym and just hang out with my friends.”

“I’m really looking forward to that.”