Thursday was an evening of glory for Carpinteria High School when people celebrated more than 130 graduating seniors at the campus stadium.
After four years of hard work, these students, dressed in red caps and gowns, marched across the Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium to the familiar notes of “Pomp and Circumstance.”
Shouts, noisemakers and blasts of air horns filled the air.
Family, friends, supporters, teachers and school board members filled the bleachers to watch the students pass a major milestone and send their mortarboards skyward.
Diana Rigby, Carpinteria Unified School District superintendent, congratulated the graduates for their transformations. She said teachers, family members, friends and the entire Carpinteria community “supported and loved” the graduates during their high school years and now as they start the next chapter of their lives.
“We are proud of you,” Rigby said. “You are bright, talented and accomplished, and you have worked hard to reach this milestone.”
Quoting Albert Einstein, Rigby told the crowd that, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
Lifelong learning, critical thinking, good citizenship and a loving heart are some aspects Rigby hopes the graduates remember, adding, “We have great faith in who you will become and we can’t wait to see what you achieve in college and beyond.”
Among the school’s 102nd graduating class, students have been accepted to several undergraduate California State University and University of California schools, as well as Westmont College in Montecito, St. John’s University in New York City and Bentley University in Massachusetts, Rigby said.
Kathryn Cleek is the senior class valedictorian, and this year’s salutatorian is Amy Perez.
Thursday’s gathering is about celebrating the academic accomplishments of the Class of 2019, Principal Gerardo Cornejo said.
Graduates will be future doctors, lawyers, educators, farmers, parents, artists, musicians and politicians, he said, and “maybe some will be lucky enough to be teachers of Carpinteria High School — you never know.”
Many students have been in the district throughout their K-12 educations, ending at the Carpinteria High School campus at 4810 Foothill Road, he said.
The four-year journey in high school taught the students time management, dedication and commitment, Cornejo said.
“You learned how to write, read, do arithmetic, and you may have starred in your first play… you met your friends, and some of them are graduating with you today,” he told the students. “You have not been alone during your educational journey.
“During the course of your life, you will never walk alone,” Cornejo continued. “We may think we do, but there are always people when you need them the most. Always take a moment to thank those people.”
He urged the students to focus on the positive and to “work to build a community… that is even better than yesterday.”
Both administrators addressed the audience in Spanish and English, and the large crowd applauded their remarks.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
