Carpinteria High School’s 99th graduating class celebrated four years of achievements and memories Friday evening at its commencement ceremony at the campus’ Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium.
Dressed in red and white, the graduating seniors looked back fondly on the memories that sustained the past four years of academics and personal growth.
“We laughed until we cried over jokes that most people would not even find funny, became expert procrastinators, overslept, under-slept, and then stayed up all night just to do it all over again,” said Salutatorian Jayme Deneault.
Principal Gerardo Cornejo welcomed the friends and families of the 150 graduating Warriors, and Carpinteria Unified School District Superintendent Micheline Miglis recalled how, like many of the graduating seniors, she cycled through a wide range of athletic hobbies and career possibilities before settling on her calling.
Both administrators addressed the audience in both English and Spanish.
Quoting Mohandas Gandhi, Miglis advised the graduates that the small choices they make now will build the people they will become as well as what the future will have in store for them.
“’Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny’,” she said. “Choose your beliefs, your thoughts, your words, your actions, your habits, and your values very carefully because they become you.”
Members of the relatively small Class of 2016 have been accepted to each of the nine undergraduate University of California schools and numerous California State Universities, as well as colleges as far-flung as St. John’s University in New York City and Louisiana State University.
“After experiencing what it is like to walk along campus where I can know everyone by their first names, and have specific memories with every person who is on this field with me today and on the campus in general, I realize that I would not have wanted it any other way,” said Deneault.
“As the final moments of our high school careers come to an end, let us celebrate our memories and the times we spent together,” she said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
