More than 500 Dos Pueblos High School seniors donned gold-and-blue caps and gowns on Thursday to receive their diplomas.
As they streamed into Scott O’Leary Stadium and around the school’s track, each waved to family and friends with palpable excitement.
After two songs from the Madrigals, the school’s jazz choir, the commencement ceremony began and Principal Mark Swanitz took the stage. He reflected on the successes of the graduates; the senior class alone had 11 semi-finalists for a National Merit Scholarship and one National Merit Scholar.
Conservatively, he said, they earned more than a half-million dollars in scholarship money, and are going on to schools such as MIT, USC, Pepperdine, Princeton, Cal Poly and UCSB.
Robotics, math and science bowls and the mock trial were several academic programs he applauded, and he called the students a “collection of individuals who have come together to form a whole.”
“DP is a better place when you leave it than it was when you arrived,” Swanitz said.
Superintendent Brian Sarvis accepted the class, and Susan Deacon, who serves on the Board of Education, awarded the diplomas.
Student Body President Blaz Uribe also spoke during the ceremony, along with classmate Fiona Georgakis. “I have learned that I am capable of anything,” Uribe said. “We are all ready for any challenges ahead.”
Georgakis used her turn at the podium to remind the class about how they arrived as nervous freshmen just four years ago in the school’s gym. She compared getting to high school to moving to a new community, and learning all of the strange traditions that come with any new place. Special to Dos Pueblos, she said, was the tradition of climbing a greased pole, “which highlights our hick heritage and our resilience when faced with unusually slippery obstacles.”
She also reflected on some of the year’s highlights, such as watching the girls water polo team win the CIF championship, and cheering on the varsity football team in a newly renovated stadium.
“From a bunch of freshmen, our class has transformed into a vibrant group of athletes, artists, musicians, thinkers, scientists, poets and a million other things,” she said.
Click here to view a list of this year’s Dos Pueblos graduates.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com.
