Surrounded by her friends and family, soccer captain and ASB president Kimberly Chavarria starts her final year on Buena’s varsity girls soccer team with an incredible win against rivals Ventura High School. As a four-year veteran on the team and in ASB, Chavarria’s leadership is unmatched on and off the field.
With the dreams of being ASB president one day, Chavarria joined ASB her freshman year of high school. A natural leader, she quickly rose to the role of freshman class president, following with sophomore and junior class president her next two years and quickly becoming a stand-out leader.
“She’s so empathetic and passionate,” English teacher Antionette Perez said. “She cares about everyone, even if she doesn’t know people and she’s always willing to lend a hand and help.”
After growing during her first three years, Chavarria ended up having no competition for ASB president. Getting elected at the end of her junior year, she immediately started planning her goals for the year and hoping for an impact on the student body.
“[We] only go through high school once,” Chavarria said. “So I hope that people remember the different things they did during high school because of the work [ASB and I] put into it.”
From the start of her work as freshman class president, Chavarria has been planning for her class’ senior ball and senior prom, among other things. Saving as many funds as possible throughout the four years, she’s now proud to show all of ASB’s hard work off to the students, staff and school board.
“I really wanted to make Buena the best that it could be,” Chavarria said. ”People underestimate Buena so much and there’s so much to showcase about it. I love to be that representative and show all our school spirit.”
Throughout her work as ASB president, Chavarria balances a life of AP classes and varsity soccer, among other things. With all of the stress brought about by her busy schedule, she manages to find peace in her friendships built from her extracurriculars, especially in the support they show her and she returns.
“[Kim’s] one of our more vocal players on the team,” soccer coach David Vallejo said. “You can hear her encouraging and supporting whether it’s behind or in front. That’s her biggest strength–her voice and her leadership.”
Chavarria has lost one rival game in all of her four years on the Buena soccer team, a feat no other sport at Buena has accomplished. Attributing this to her mindset, Chavarria’s fearlessness is contagious to her teammates.
“She doesn’t dwell on setbacks, she just learns and moves forward. Her optimism helps drive the team, no matter the challenge,” Vallejo said.
Although she started soccer later than some of her peers, Chavarria fell in love with the sport, and her determination led her to be a freshman on varsity soccer and, eventually, captain. While she looks up to another late-starter Alex Morgan and her impact on the national team at just 17 years old, Chavarria does not see a future with space for both soccer and her dreams of becoming an obstetrician.
“I love soccer. I will always keep it in my life,” Chavarria said. “But, I don’t think that I’m going to [play professionally]. If I do play, it will be intramural or club in college, but I won’t go [to school] for soccer [specifically].”
As an undefeated team, varsity girls soccer prepares to take on the third place league team, San Marcos High School, in Buena’s senior night Jan. 31, 2025 at 5 p.m on Buena’s home field.
“She’s locked in and ready,” Vallejo said. “[Kim is] a big part in solidifying [these] wins.”
