The Junior Citizens of the Year are members of the Class of 2024 at Laguna Beach High School.  They have been selected by the faculty and staff on the basis of their achievements in academics, leadership, athletics and community service.

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Elaina Seybold,18, was born while her Air Force father was deployed to a combat zone. She went through the school system here and is a scholar-athlete carrying a remarkable 4.67 grade point average who has received the Advanced Placement Scholar Award with Distinction and who also is a National Merit scholar semi-finalist. She has played varsity basketball all four years and is this year’s team captain while also playing lacrosse and being on the Sunset League’s All-Academic Team.  Recently, Elaina received a President’s Award for her extensive community service, which includes being on the city’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and serving as a counselor at two camps for children with special needs including those with chronic illnesses and autism. In her spare time, she loves cooking and mountain biking. Elaina hopes to attend a large research university and major in biomedical engineering.

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Tyler Robert Palino is also 18 and another academic all-star with a 4.52 GPA and who too is an AP Scholar with Distinction. Heavily involved in various school organizations, Tyler is president of Connect Tech Laguna, which has a goal of educating older adults at the Susi Q Senior Center in computer literacy and scam awareness. He is also a peer mentor and vice-president of the Strength in Numbers Club, which promotes positive mental health by developing coping strategies for students at risk. He serves as a math and science tutor. Tyler’s leadership was a factor in being selected by Laguna’s American Legion Post 222 to attend Boys State. In 2022 he traveled with other students to the Dominican Republic in an effort to restore its coral reefs and the ocean’s ecosystems. Closer to home, he has appeared in the Pageant of the Masters four years running. One passion involves coding educational apps on an online system at MIT where he hopes to study computer science and engineering.