[Click here for a Noozhawk gallery of graduation photos.]
Proud Royals celebrated their graduation Thursday evening at San Marcos High School’s Warkentin Stadium.
Principal Ed Behrens conferred degrees on the hundreds of graduates and congratulated them for finishing high school.
“Today marks the beginning of the rest of your lives,” he said. “More than completing the requirements, you have grown into the young people you are today and I have been proud to be your principal. Go royals!”
He handed out awards to the school valedictorian Dan Roman and salutatorian Matthew Arnold, who both had grade-point-averages above 4.7.
Roman will attend Harvard in the fall, while Arnold is going to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Behrens said.
After performances by the Madrigal Singers and Royal Knights, all the graduates stood and broke into song with Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions.’
Student speakers Gabe Donovan and Cole Kurth thanked their graduating class for the acceptance and the lifelong memories.
Donovan, a special education student for all four years, said he was worried about being accepted in high school, but those worries were quickly laid to rest.
The people at San Marcos helped him become an independent, confident person — he even reached the finals of the Mr. Royal contest this year.
“Four years ago, it would be hard to imagine myself being silly on a stage,” he said.
Kurth, who leads the fundraising teams for the successful student-run nonprofit Kids Helping Kids, agreed that the San Marcos community made it a special place to go to high school.
Other schools may have banished him to the corner of the quad for his love of Disney, he joked, but he created lasting friendships during his four years.
The class of 2014 is saying goodbye to each other now, but will carry the memories and shared experiences forever, he said.
“We are the future and our time is here!” Kurth said.
Behrens also honored the family of Sergio Romero, a San Marcos student who would have graduated this year but for a fatal vehicle accident in October 2011.
Romero, a passionate musician and member of the school’s wrestling team, was struck and killed by a truck while he was walking across Milpas Street in Santa Barbara.
The tragedy mobilized the community to address pedestrian safety concerns on the busy Milpas Street corridor and his mother spoke at several city meetings asking for changes to prevent another death.
Behrens recognized Romero’s parents, Armando and Guadalupe, and brother at Thursday’s graduation ceremony with a certificate of remembrance.
The Class of 2014 for San Marcos High School includes the following graduates:
Lukas Ablingis
Isabella Acuna
Sebastian Adams
Ivette Aguilar
Adel Ahmadian
Esteban Alfaro
Yatziri Alfaro de Jesus
Liam Allard
Jacqueline Alonso
Jordan Altshuler
Maritza Alvarado
Joanna Alvarez
Sergio Alvarez Vazquez
Nicholas Anderson
Hannah Andrews
Agustin Angel Bernabe
Helen Arfaei
Matthew Arnold
Andrew Ayala
Ahmad Azam
Bianca Bajonero
Victor Bakai
Kyle Barrett
Marina Bastos
Joshua Beasley
Blake Bebensee
Julia Bickford
Sydney Black
Emery Boeddeker
Mark Boessler Jr.
Zachary Bordofsky
Krista Bowdle
Grant Bradford
Samuel Brenner
Ella Brewer
Pilar Broussard
Oliver Bublitz
William Burre
Eion Cabanting
Ashley Calvillo
Jacqueline Campos
Bryan Cantero
Celine Cardona
Ashley Carney
Alexander Castellanos
Denisse Castrejon
Destin Cavazos
Brenda Cervantes Romero
Eric Cervantes
Berenise Charco
Elianna Chavez
Julia Cheresh
Bobby Childress Jr.
Coleman Chrisley Schmidt
Jacob Cobian
Kevin Colee
Madeline Collins
Carlos Contreras
Estefania Contreras
Uriel Contreras Moreno
Selena Coronel
Manuel Cosio
Amy Cregan
Cynthia Cruz
Katie Cruz
Perla Cruz
Lauren Cutsinger
Kyle Dannenfelzer
Alexander Das
Jesse De Jesus
Sindy De Jesus
Karla De Leon
Dasha Depew
Gabriel Donovan
Colin Dosch
Julia Downs
Kevin Duenez
Jasmine Duncan
Conner Dunn
Noah Dutton
Leigh Edwards
Beatriz Elias
Caylin Elizondo
Taylor Escobar
Gerardo Escoto
Sergio Espino
Richard Espinoza
Joshua Estrada
Jonathan Ewasiuk
Isabella Farinelli
Rachel Fay
Adilene Fernandez
Karen Firestone
Jewel Fisher
Jillian Fisher
Alexis Flores
Emmanuel Flores
Jasmine Flores
Nicole Forker
David Foster
Alexis Fredkin
Davis French
Maria Frias
Madeline Frohling
Ruth Fuentes
McKenzie Funk
Ana Gallardo Pantoja
Ricardo Gama
Carlos Garcia
Esmeralda Garcia
Georgina Garcia
Isaac Garcia
Logan Garcia
Kevin Garcia Moreno
Adriana Garcia Romero
Yamelle Gastelum
Wesley Ghan-Gibson
Benjamin Ghitterman
Javier Gil
Charles Giroux
Colin Gleason
Emilio Gomez
Martin Gomez Ornelas
Stefano Gonzagui
Diana Gonzalez
Lyana Gonzalez
Maria Gonzalez
Sabrina Gonzalez
Martin Gonzalez Jr.
Paris Goodgion
Rodrigo Granados Garcia
Emily Grigor
Joseph Grimaud
Eveline Guerrero
Gisela Guerrero
Jaime Guerrero
Jocelyne Guerrero
Madeline Guerrero
Eric Gutierrez
Joaquin Gutierrez
Nora Gutierrez
Rafael Gutierrez
Vanessa Gutierrez
Ethan Habecker
Nickolas Hail
Jack Haley
Madison Hall
Michael Hamill
Hannah Harrah
William Harmon
Benjamin Haslund-Gourley
Shane Hauschild
Tasia Hawley
Chuyan He
Hunter Heilman
Matthew Heintze
Fernando Hernandez
Jesus Hernandez
Jonathan Hernandez
Michael Hernandez
Vianey Hernandez
Wendy Hernandez
Luis Hernandez Organista
Claudia Herrera
Maria Herrera
Connor Higgins
Clare Holehouse
Austin Howard
Brian Huato
Austin Hudgens
Carter Hudson
Jenna Hulme
Samantha Hurd
Leonardo Imperiale
Albert Ineira
Dakota Jackson
Austin Jacobson
Anna-Grace Janke
Melissa Jewkes
Anahi Jimenez
Doreida Jimenez
Febe Jimenez
Olivia Jimenez
Adriana Joaquina-Lopez
Jasmine John
Baker Johnson
Elijah Johnson
Halie Johnson
Robert Johnson
Emma Jones
Thor Jorgenson
Cesar Juanico
Alexis Juarez Marquez
Gabriel Kang
Aanavi Karandikar
Alyssa Katich
Spencer Kemp
Claire Kiffe
Casey Kile
Katie Kim
Nathan Kim
Matthew Kiyoi
Patrick Knowles
Mariya Korostil
Krystal Krueger
Frances Kuesis
Anastasia Kunz
Cole Kurth
Robert Landeros
Jose Lara
Yvonne Lauvdal
Giovanni Lazaro
Ariana Leon
Nallely Leyva-Diaz
Jansen Lindrose
Michelle Linares
Owen Lincoln
Gloria Lino
Reed Lisea
Zachary Lloyd
Julissa Locia
Joe Logan
Juliana Logan
Kimberly Lol
Yvette Lopez
Jose Lopez
Shad Loos
Jasmine Lozano
Estevan Lucas
Erik Lujano
Kelly Luu
Karlie Mack
Krysta Madewell
Sandra Madrigal Aguilar
Paola Magallanes-Soto
Benjamin Magdaleno
Emilie Mahoney
Lisa Maillard
Taylor Mann
Yamileth Manzanarez Jimenez
Juliana Manzo
Daniel Marquez Arizmendi
Susan Marquis
Joseph Martinez
Olivier Masbanji
Megan Masini
Anthony Mata
Vilma Mata
Desiree Mata-Herrera
Nicholas Mayner
Joseph Mazziotta
Mathis McComb
Matthew McFadden
Carissa McKone
Mandise McMillan
Laurel Mead
Xavier Medrano
Eduardo Mejia
Arely Mendoza
McAlister Metcalfe
Jeremy Miller
William Mitsuk
Jesse Moctezuma
Juan Montanez
Hope Morrison
Alyssa Mueller
Kayleigh Murphy
Brenda Najera
Kevin Nava
Jaqueline Navarrete
Kathryn Nilsson
Elizabeth Ochi
Andie O’Donnell
Amalia Ortiz
Jabier Ortiz
Luis Ortiz Altamira
Mary O’Toole
Samantha Pachter
Valeria Padilla
Julia Paris
Keana Parra
Alexander Rico Pascua
Sean Patterson
Devante Paul
Brittany Peretiako
Jael Perez
Emily Peterson
Emerson Pizzinat
Samuel Polanco
Shirley Prasad
Austin Pugh
Kelly Purling
Karena Quezada
Erick Quirino
Barbara Ramirez
Christian Ramirez
Eric Ramirez Torres
Juan Ramos Jr.
Andrew Rayner
Tessa Reeg
Ryan Reish
Sarah Rich
Bryce Ridenour
Toby Riedinger
Megan Riley
Carlos Rios
Cecilia Rios
Mayra Rios Arreola
Anzio Rios Pulido
Anthony Ritter
Claudia Riveroll
Karla Robles Gonzalez
Adrian Rodriguez
Brianna Rodriguez
Adriana Rodriguez Santos
Sydney Rodriguez
Dan Roman
Maria Roman Gallegos
Yi Rong
John Anthony Rosales
Jason Rosen
Phoebe Rosenbach
Amber Rowley
Parker Rozenburg
Adriana Ruiz
Viviana Ruiz
Jessica Rydman
Eric Salas
Ana Salgado
Dayana Salgado
Christian Sanabia
Alondra Sanchez
Ana Sanchez
Evelyn Sanchez
Gloria Sanchez
Brandon Sandoval
Ivan Santamaria
Arantxa Santiago
Miriam Santiago
Diana Santiago Lopez
Fernanda Santini
Noe Santos Nava
Amber Schmeling
Madison Semenza
Lizette Serrato
Tanya Severiano Vico
Alexandra Seyle
Noah Shields
Kianna Silva
Pauline Simes
Travis Smelley
Eric Smith
Ryan Sorensen
Nicholas Stebbens
Forrest Stiles Jr.
Sam Strong
Tony Suleiman Jr.
Stephanie Swann
Colleen Sweeney
Sean Sweeney
Summer Sweeney
Nicholas Swider
Kaela Syas
Brittany Tacadena
Miranda Tinajera
Allison Torchia
Luis Torres
Rachel Tracy
Kyle Tran
Sandra Trujillo
Chase Tzoumas
Nijole Urbonas
Tyler Vaccaro
Maria Fernanda Valencia Navarrete
David Valles III
Arleen Vargas
Liliann Vargas
Korina Vazquez
Neyva Vazquez
Sylvia Vega
Rebeca Vela
Annival Velazquez
Brenda Ventura
Jacobo Vera Montanez
Nikolas Victoria
Virginia Villegas
Kaitlyn Vogel
Brooke Wallace
Yiren Wang
Anne Warren
Ryan Weideman
Kyle Whitaker
Cameron Whitney-Giordano
Christian Widmer
Clayton Will
Camille Wilson
Jonathan Wilson
Maxwell Wilson
Carly Yarnell
Hector Ybarra
Paula York
Reese Yzquierdo
Tyler Zamora
Daniel Zarate
Sky Zimmerman
Paul Zink
Antonio Zuniga Jr.
Colette Zylstra
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.