San Clemente High School senior Jack Adams was very busy during his  four years of high school, doing theater, joining music clubs and the  National Honor Society and participating in student government, serving  this year as student-body president.

Adams, who has lived in  San Clemente his whole life, was recently named Triton of the Year, one  of the school's top honors for graduating seniors. But he isn't the  first in his family to have won the award.

"My older brother was Triton of the Year his year (2006)," Adams said.

Adams  also has a younger sister who will be a freshman at SCHS next year, but  Adams said the family isn't putting too much pressure on her to follow  in her brothers' footsteps.

"We try to stay away from that," he said. "It's a little unfair to her."

Q. What is the Triton of the Year award?

A.  The award is given to the senior that year who best embodies the spirit  of what it means to be a San Clemente Triton – someone who genuinely  cares about the school and does everything they can to better the  school. Teachers nominate students, whittle it down to the top five,  and the winner gets chosen from that group.

Q. What does it mean to you to win Triton of the Year?

A.  There are some good people in the top five. I'm friends with all of  them. Anyone could have won. It's a great honor to be nominated for  that. I don't think too many of us lost too much sleep over it. All  those kids up there, I don't think that's what they've been striving  for all four years. They're up there for the love of the school.

Q. What is so great about San Clemente High School?

A.  It's so great because it's got a lot of tradition. It's not too small  of a city, but it still has that small-town, hometown feel. A lot of  the teachers went to San Clemente High School. All the teachers are  there for the love of it, and if they weren't, they wouldn't have come  back. We have great spirit for all things San Clemente. Everything we  do for San Clemente, everyone's behind it 100 percent.

Q. What are your feelings going into graduation? Are you excited or nervous, happy or sad?

A.  It's kind of a two-way sweet. Of course I'm excited to be graduating,  but this is where I've been for four years. I've made most of my  friends this way. There's also that feeling of I think I'm ready.  There's been a lot of senioritis, as we like to call it, going around.  Everyone is really excited, but most people I've talked to say it's  bittersweet. I'm going to miss all of the seniors at San Clemente High  School.

Q. What are your goals after high school?

A.  My goal would be to eventually be able to make a living performing in  front of people, doing theater or music. That's what I love to do. I've  been doing school plays since middle school. That's what I live for.  When people say, "I could never do that," I'm thinking, "It was so  easy."