With family and friends filling the stands and cheering them on, more than 200 graduates were celebrated at Cabrillo High School in Lompoc during its 57th annual commencement ceremony Friday afternoon.
“I have watched proudly these last three years as you have risen to the challenge of making Cabrillo High School a better place now than it was four years ago because of the things you have accomplished while you were here,” Principal Mark Swanitz said to the Class of 2023.
He also spoke of how the graduating Conquistadores are entering adulthood at a critical time in the country’s history, and the hope that brings.
“Today you leave behind the carefree days of your childhood and take on the responsibilities of adulthood,” Swanitz said. “More important, you join the society of adults at a time when America desperately needs your fresh ideas, your new perspectives, and your leadership.
“You are becoming adults during an inflection point wherein America’s founding principles and the rights we are afforded as citizens are being tried and tested in our country’s federal and state legislative and judicial branches. In countless ways, large and small, you and your generation will be entrusted with protecting the American dream for future generations.”
Cabrillo High School graduates sported an array of creative mortarboard during the commencement festivities Friday. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo 
Cabrillo High School senior class president Evelyn Anguiano addresses her fellow graduates at the Class of 2023 commencement. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo 
Holly Harper delivers the scholar address at the Cabrillo High School’s Class of 2023 graduation. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo 
The Cabrillo High School madrigals perform the senior class song “Space Between/A Million Dreams.” Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo 
Cabrillo High School graduate Jackson Forest delivers the esteemed “CONQ”uer address at the school’s Class of 2023 commencement. “While you’re not able to change what happens to you or the situations that you are put in, what you are able to change is how you react, what you learn from it, and how you take what you learn to make the world a better place,” he told his classmates. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo 
Cabrillo High School Principal Mark Swanitz addresses the Class of 2023 during Friday’s commencement. “I have watched proudly these last three years as you have risen to the challenge of making Cabrillo High School a better place now than it was four years ago because of the things you have accomplished while you were here,” he told the new alumni. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo 
A new Cabrillo High School alumnus shows off his diploma as he walks off the stage. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo
Swanitz said the Class of 2023 will help define what it means to be an American in the coming decades and to reshape America’s role in the world.
“That is a weighty responsibility to be sure, but one for which the education you have received here has prepared you well,” he said.
Student speakers during the commencement included ASB executive president Sekai Mitchell; senior class president Evelyn Anguiano; senior class treasurer Dylan Drew, who announced the class gift; Holly Harper delivering the scholar address; and Jackson Forest with the “CONQ”uer address.
Anguiano spoke of the class and school accomplishments this year and said the graduates were awarded a total of $416,285 in scholarships.
She also said that about 86% of this year’s Cabrillo High graduates are planning to attend either community college or a four-year university, and about 3% are enlisting in the U.S. military.
Swanitz added that 29 students graduated with the Legion of Academic Merit or Honored Scholar award.
“One thing about the Class of 2023 is that we are special — made up of many different pieces, yet we are one united class,” Harper said.
Each year, Cabrillo High staff nominates and chooses a student “who they feel has persevered throughout high school despite personal obstacles they fought in their life,” to deliver the “CONQ”uer address at graduation.
Mitchell said that due to COVID-19, seniors were also able to nominate a classmate.
Forest was selected this year, and he spoke of his struggle with mental health — having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2020 — and attending a long-term mental health treatment facility in Virginia during his sophomore year. During his senior year, his dad was deployed overseas with the military.
“It was the summer of 2022, the summer before senior year, that I was told that my dad would be deployed overseas until later this year,” he said. “It meant that he would not only be missing my senior year, but I’d be losing a vital pillar of my support system.
“It hurt to not have my father here for some major life events, but I was able to adapt and overcome quickly.”
Forest added that what he learned during mental health treatment helped him to cope through the circumstances and gave him a better outlook on life and the difficult situations he may find himself in.
“While you’re not able to change what happens to you or the situations that you are put in, what you are able to change is how you react, what you learn from it, and how you take what you learn to make the world a better place,” he said.
“While my story does go to a dark place, it doesn’t end there. Today I stand on this stage with my three academic letters and now my diploma …
“I am living proof that although times feel tough and that there is no reason to continue, when you finally accept hardships as that pathway to peace, your view of the world completely changes.”