August 2012? I'm sure you'd have plenty of time too level up assuming a once a week session, dis-regarding that at the early levels the strongest characters from 9-10 would be Natural attack focused barbarians/alchemists or bow focused paladins (if you fight evil creatures often), rangers and perhaps fighters.
I'm sure there's a thread around here some-one made that shows how too make a monk/alchemist that by level 10 can rip most reasonable cr encounters apart in about 2 rounds, however it could well end up with you becoming the Most Wanted Dead or Alive in your DMs eyes!
If any of those catch your eye i'd be glad to give you a bit more information on them, and i'm sure some others will have plenty of other valid suggestions outside my expertise. Druids can be pretty nasty I hear, and some sort of colour spray focused heavens oracle.
Lets never forget Chain/Whip focused fighters/bards and Zen Archery monks, both have the power to decimate most fights in their own right!