Hawaii's Super Students

Name: Katie Gilligan
Age: 17
School: Kaimuki High School
Favorite subject: Calculus
Future: Veterinarian

Gilligan, 17, is riding out her senior year in style.

With a 4.0 grade-point average, the Kaimuki High School senior was captain of the tennis team, and a member of the National Honor Society and Japanese club. She was voted the East Division soft tennis player of the year.

"She is a leader, especially for a girl," said science teacher Jeanine Nakakura. "She has a good self-esteem and knows who she is.

"She knows where she is going and she knows how to get there."

Gilligan will be one of three valedictorians in her class of 269. She is also a Regent scholar and a finalist in the Sterling Scholarship science division.

She wants to pursue a career as a veterinarian. The closest she has gotten to taking care of animals is raising a mouse and coming across turtles while bodyboarding.

"I want to specialize in marine animals because I've grown up near the ocean all my life and I feel it has given me a lot of happiness."

As a vet she would like to research dolphins and whales and "establish a community-based project and get more people involved in marine science," she said.

The daughter of Ron and Maureen Gilligan has a full scholarship to attend the University of Hawaii.