Yuka Perera has been a stellar player for the San Marcos girls tennis team, winning three straight Channel League singles championships and reaching the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Tournament.
The senior also is star in the classroom. Her academic achievements have earned her acceptance into the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she plans to major in biological engineering.
Perera on Monday was honored as the Scholar Athlete of the Year at San Marcos during the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
Award presenter Marc Gamberdella said of four accomplishments Perera has earned as a Royal: “You just got to lay those out and let all the rest fall by the wayside.”
Those four are: No. 1 player on the tennis team all four years, a 4.7 grade point average, National Merit Scholar awardee and acceptance into MIT.
“Those are four kill shots on a résumé,” said Gamberdella. “There’s a lot more about Yuka, of course, but it says a lot about her and her achievements as a high school student athlete.”
Perera’s class load includes Advanced Placement courses in calculus and literature. She is an AP Scholar With Distinction.
She’s gotten a head start in biological engineering by interning at a local bio-medical start-up firm.
“She’s clearly very focused on the future and well on her way to success,” said Gamberdella.
Perera also does volunteer work at the Santa Barbara Public Library and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; she is a mentor with the Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons and works with the organization Kids Helping Kids.
Her older brother, Kento, won the award for San Marcos two years ago. He is at Stanford, where he is a redshirt freshman on the men’s tennis team.
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