Meet Kai

March 01, 2020

Meet our February Student Spotlight: Kai Taras, a sophomore at St. Augustine High School in Tucson.

A graduate of St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Kai chose St. Augustine because of its strong academics, small size and the clear evidence of the school’s Catholicity. Kai has made the most of her time at the school, making an impact in the classroom and on the court.

Kai, who is fluent in Spanish and has a goal of adding Italian or Russian to become multilingual. She has made the honor roll every term during her two-year tenure and has been a two-sport varsity athlete in each of her freshman and sophomore years.

“I love playing sports for the Wolves, playing volleyball in the fall and basketball during winter,” Kai said. “But during my free time, I like to play the guitar and spend time with my dad and our German Shepherd.”

Kai has taken on the role of a servant leader at St. Augustine, a trait she picked up from her father, Scott Taras, who served our country as a member of the United States Marine Corps. Kai serves as an ambassador for the school and is a member of student council. Kai has a 3.93 GPA and is currently taking an AP Honors World History Class and is enrolled in World Literature, Geometry, and Biology Honors courses as a sophomore. “I love Biology and plan to major in it,” Kai said smiling. “My dream path is to graduate from college, go to medical school and become a dermatologist.”

Her mother, Marisol Taras immigrated to this country form Acapulco, Mexico and now works full-time at Dillard’s. “Without the scholarship from the Arizona Leadership Foundation, I would not be able to pay the tuition to attend St. Augustine.”

Born in Joliet, Illinois, Kai’s plans for college could take her back to the Midwest as her top choices for undergraduate school are the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University.

What St. Augustine had to share about Kai: We support Kai for the Arizona Leadership Foundation’s spotlight story, as she is an example of so many of our students that excel here at St. Augustine. She is always willing to serve as a Student Ambassador for open houses and tours of campus for prospective families and donors. Her family is one of the many recipients of the Arizona Leadership Foundation’s scholarships. Without the assistance of organizations like ALF, our school would not be able to provide a foundation for our students. We are grateful to the ALF staff and all your donors.

About St. Augustine: St. Augustine Catholic High School opened in 2003 as a Diocesan high school in Tucson’s east side with 45 students. We have grown to 280 students (grades 9-12) covering 26 zip codes in southern Arizona. We provide a quality college-prep education that focuses on the development of the whole child in an effort to provide them with a better future. 85% of our students qualify for the corporate Low-Income scholarships and about 45% of our students qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program.