Vianey Coronado Angeles found out in mid-April that she had been named valedictorian for the University of San Diego School of Business Administration, which was great news until she started thinking about the graduation speech. 
“I wasn’t even thinking about being valedictorian,” Angeles said. “I was just doing my homework and studying and trying to do my best. Plus, I hate public speaking and I knew there would be a speech.”
That thought is a bit ironic for Angeles because she loves languages and speaks four of them – Spanish, French, Italian and English. The accountancy major also majored in French and minored in Italian.
“I think languages are absolutely incredible and that you breach cultural barriers and create connections that would not normally be made if you couldn’t speak the same language,” said Angeles, who moved to Mission Beach from Mexico at age 10 because her father wanted her to learn English and to receive a better overall education; “Ever since I was young, I wanted to learn new languages.”
Her proficiency with languages will come in handy when she starts her new public accounting job this October at KPMG, which has a global reach. “I definitely want to take advantage of the fact that KPMG is a huge international firm and see where it takes me,” she said.
Angeles, who has a 4.0 grade point average, will graduate on May 24 summa cum laude. At the University of San Diego, she received the Excellence in Accountancy Award and the Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Award. Angeles graduated from the Francis Parker School in 2011.
“My high school was pretty small, and I liked that,” she said. “That’s what I liked about USD, small classes and being able to have one-on-one time with professors.”
While attending USD, Angeles decided to stay at home and commute to college. “I went in the morning and stayed all day so I didn’t miss out on college life. And I liked being able to come home to Mission Beach. I love it here. You can do a little bit of everything.”
She credits her parents, Luis Coronado of San Diego and Vianey Angeles of Mexico, with instilling in her a strong work ethic and the motivation to always give your best.
“They’ve always been extremely supportive of me and told me to try my best. There’s nothing you can regret about trying your best, whether you succeed or not. It’s a good family motto.”
As for her speech on Sunday? “I’m going to focus on everything we shared and how these memories will always be with us and how in the end we all succeeded, which should be celebrated because we have shown excellence and we have succeeded.”
The University of San Diego is a Catholic institution that was chartered in 1949. The university enrolls approximately 8,300 undergraduate and graduate full-time equivalent students.