Brentwood's Liberty High valedictorians plan similar paths

By Roni Gehlke
For the Contra Costa Times

Both of Liberty High School's valedictorians will be heading to prestigious business colleges in the fall. They believe there will be a lot of changes in the future and the business market is where the jobs will be after they graduate.

Darya "Dasha" Zmachynskaya of Brentwood has been accepted to the Ivy League's Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She had first had her heart set on attending Yale in the fall, but after taking what she calls her "college tour" trip, she became impressed with Wharton.

"When I visited the business school I had a chance to sit in on some classes and the instruction was so relevant to today's issues," Zmachynskaya said. "The professors were discussing everyday people and everyday lives."

Before considering the business field, Zmachynskaya had considered going into engineering, the profession both her parents work in, but changed her mind. "I don't want to miss out on any more time," she said, explaining that in the some engineering fields it could take longer to complete her degree.

Instead, she decided to work on a business degree and then work on synthesizing her degree to include classes like biology and alternative energy, hoping in the end she can use those skills to go to work for a major corporation or someday open her own business.

"Over the last couple of decade the Internet was a really big deal," she said. "In the future I see alternate energy and biology being the two waves of the future, changing the fabric of the way we live our own lives."

Jacqueline Schindler of Discovery Bay, who is sharing the valedictorian status this year with Zmachynskaya, feels much the same way. She will be attending Duke University to study business.

"I'm not quite sure yet what exactly I want to do with my degree, but I think business will be important in the future," Schindler said.

Another thing that both girls have in common is that they both share an Eastern European heritage. Schindler's parents immigrated from Russia in 1991, right before she was born.

"I really received my work ethic from my parents, Sergey and Olga," Schindler said.

She also said that her older sister, Maria, has given her a lot of inspiration.

Zmachynskaya and her parents immigrated from a small country called Belarus, which is also in the Eastern Europe. When she first moved to the United States when she was 6 years old, she didn't know how to speak English. She learned while attending elementary school in San Leandro and Livermore.
Zmachynskaya's family moved to Brentwood while she was in eighth grade where she attended Edna Hill School before attending Liberty.

During her time at Liberty, Zmachynskaya has been active in drama and arts, participating in many plays and musical productions with the Playmakers club. Since she has been at Liberty her favorite production has been "Beauty and the Beast," which she performed in her freshman year. Although she didn't get the chance to perform, she helped with costumes and set design for the production.
Zmachynskaya also performed in the school choir. She was a captain and co-captain in the academic decathlon, plus several other clubs.

She also worked with the California Scholarship Federation and the National Honor Society alongside Schindler. Zmachynskaya has been the vice president for the past two years. Schindler was the secretary in her junior year.

Schindler has also worked with several school clubs, including the Fashion Club and Red Wave Spirit Club and has been involved in school sports.

Zmachynskaya has taken many of the school's AP courses, but her favorite has been an independent study AP Spanish Literature class from this year. "My teacher Jesse Ortega has really been an inspiration to me," she said.

Liberty High School graduation will take place next weekend. After graduation the girls plan to spend time with family and work on relaxing before the next wave of their future begins. Zmachynskaya also will be going back to her home country for a month to visit with family.