Selected for academic prowess and community service, Frake and Shibley, both 18, fit the Millennial criterion of being born between 1980 and 1994, but that’s where the pigeonholing ends. These mature, dedicated, hardworking self-starters embody the long-heralded characteristics of their grandparents’ generation more than they do of their own.

Frake stands at 4-foot-11, but what she may lack in height she more than makes up for in breadth—of experience, that is. The Wilson High School grad is an active member of the Belmont Heights United Methodist Church on Termino Avenue, yet this is her second summer volunteering at a United Church of Christ camp near Yucaipa in eastern San Bernardino County. In previous years, Frake has attended Pilgrim Pines Camp and Conference Center as a camper. She says she “wanted and needed to give back to the camp because it has given so much to me.”

“Being there helps me re-evaluate my values,” she says. “Plus, I met my very best friend there.”

As a volunteer counselor, she works with adults with mental and physical disabilities, people who may be unhappy or resentful. “It’s challenging,” she admits. “But I have learned to allow them to be vulnerable to me, and I have learned to let myself be vulnerable to them.” During her senior year, Frake participated in the Z Girls, a communityservice club that made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless, raised money for display cases at Wilson, and planned the senior awards night.

At Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., where Frake is headed come fall, she plans to continue volunteering, ideally as a tutor because she enjoys working with kids and with academics. Frake’s favorite subject in school was English, and she will probably choose that or political science as her major, with a minor in Spanish. “My close friend is fluent,” she says, “and we spend a lot of time talking. That helps.”

Frake also acted in school plays and was a member of the debate team— ideal preparation for her career goal of district attorney. “I like arguing,” she says, arms folded in front of her. “And I don’t mind public speaking. Besides, D.A.’s do really good things for their communities.” She played soccer until her junior year, but then the rigors of studying— she took nine AP courses in high school—left her with little time for team sports. To keep in shape, she occasionally runs and swims laps in her backyard pool.

She says her real estate agent-father, Victor Frake, and her CPA-mom, Pamela Brown, always pushed her to do her best – they were never “overbearing, but always very supportive.”

Recommended Reading: “Harry Potter” series, “The Twilight Saga” series by Stephenie Meyer, and the classics “Crime and Punishment” and “Invisible Man.”

Words of Wisdom: “If you want something bad enough, you can get to where you want to be if you work hard.”

For the ancient Greeks, the ideal man was a scholar, philosopher, athlete, musician, orator, and statesman rolled into one. If Plato and Aristotle had added “nice guy” to that list, they would have had Patrick Shibley. This Poly High grad who is on his way to UC Berkeley in the fall got straight A’s throughout high school; was on the soccer and volleyball teams; played in an award-winning jazz band; speaks with a simple eloquence that is profound, humble, and sincere all at once; and, in a blue blazer, white button-down shirt, dress pants, and shiny black shoes, presents himself as a job applicant for a law firm. But with bright, wonder-filled eyes and a ready smile, he is anything but boastful or socially awkward. Of his academic achievements, he is rather matter-of-fact: “As long as you work hard and have a respectable amount of raw intelligence, you can do it.” When pressed to admit to his most challenging subject in school, he hesitates, then says that he was concerned that he hadn’t understood calculus well enough, but when he got back his AP scores, he found that “I really had understood more than I thought I had because I got a 5”—the highest-possible mark.

Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living, but philosopher Shibley puts it this way: “I’ve thought about what I want to do with my life because everyone has to think about this. Berkeley offers something like 2,000 classes, so I want to try different things and taste some of those classes while I’m there. I want to keep my opportunities open and my mind open.”

Of his lawyer-father, William, and his actress-mother, Patricia, who played Kanga in the “Winnie the Pooh” TV series, Shibley says, “Their professions haven’t influenced me, so much as their parenting. They love me endlessly. They raised me to go out and learn and to find what makes me happy. I don’t know what that is yet, but that’s what I’m going to find out. And when I do, I know I’ll stick to it.”

Recommended Reading: “Hamlet,” Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the novels of William Faulkner.

Words of Wisdom: “Don’t be afraid to work hard. And a lot of the time, it’s not even working hard, but working right, finding out what’s the right way for you….Some of the smartest people I know didn’t do well in school, which makes me think it’s more about the effort than the intelligence. It’s how badly you want it.”