Xiunell Gomez is the youngest of two children in her family and was born on the 5th of January in 1993 in Anchorage. Xiunell attended Bayshore Elementary School, Mears Middle School, and is graduated from A.J. Dimond High School with her class of 2011. Gomez has played piano since she was eight years old, and she reports that her teacher has told her that she is, “one of her most prized students.” Gomez has since stopped taking lessons because she is leaving for college soon, but is planning to keep piano with her forever. Gomez has also swum since she was eight years old. Until the end of the 2010 high school swim season in November she swam for Aurora Swim Team, and since she was a freshman swam for the Dimond swim team. She has received three varsity letters for swimming and was the team captain in 2010. Gomez was also the the president of the Green Effects Club her senior year. Gomez has taken a respectable seven AP classes over her attendance at Dimond High, including AP Environmental Science, AP French, AP US History, AP Music Theory, AP Language and AP Chemistry. She is graduating with a collective GPA of 3.67. Gomez is “stoked” to go to college at Washington State because she can study what she has always wanted to study, dietetics. When asked what her favorite memories of High School were Gomez said, “Hanging out with my swim team, I love those guys.” Senior Joey Towslee has been a good friend of Gomez since first grade, and has also been her fellow swimmer on AST for the past four years. In Towslee’s opinion, “Xiunell is a very strong independent individual who will always defend her opinions.” Towlsee and Gomez will be attending Washington State together this fall. Towslee said, “Having Xiunell as my college buddy will just make my college experience that much better.” When asked which word would best describe Xiunell, Towslee said “feisty” was the best choice for her. “It sums her up so nicely,” he said with a smile. Sophomore Morgan Bloom has known Gomez for less than a month. When asked what word she thought described Gomez best she agreed with Towslee’s “feisty” but with her limited knowledge and experience of Gomez said that “outgoing” was also an appropriate choice. Since freshman year Gomez has taken French at Dimond. One of her favorite teachers was her French teacher, Aline Hopkins. When Hopkins was interviewed regarding Gomez she said, “I have known Xiunell since her freshman year. She is a very good student, is very talented in French and has grown a lot over the past four years. I am very proud of her. She is happy, hardworking, and patient.”