Santa Barbara High School’s class of 2025 celebrated their personal milestones at graduation Thursday and their part in something bigger: the school’s 150th year. 

“You are the sesquicentennial class, the class that carries the hopes of a century past and the promise of a century left to come,” Principal Fred Razo said in his welcome speech at Peabody Stadium. 

“We say, ‘Once a Don, always a Don.’ I love that, but it’s more than a saying; it’s a living oath.” 

Being a Santa Barbara High School alumnus is “a bond that binds all of you as Dons,” he said. 

He told graduates to embrace change and cherish community.

“The world you step into will not stand still, and neither should you,” he said. 

State Sen. Monique Limón reflected on her own graduation from Santa Barbara High School 28 years ago, and said California is “so excited to see a graduating class like yours.” 

“The world is awaiting you, the state is awaiting you; we want your brains, your talent, your enthusiasm,” she said. 

Senior class president Jasmyn Amirfazlian Dennis told her fellow graduates to take in the moment at Thursday’s commencement ceremony. 

“Before this all passes into a brief memory, feel what it feels like to be here,” she said. “Remember this blinding sea of olive and gold.” 

As a freshman class assignment, she wrote down what she wanted her graduating self to remember. She shared some of those forward-thinking words with her classmates in her speech Thursday. 

“Be nicer to people,” Dennis had written, and in parentheses, “seriously.” 

She encouraged her fellow graduates to go out into the world kinder, softer, and knowing that they don’t have to take high school baggage with them. 

“Know that words linger; people will always remember how you made them feel rather than what you said,” Dennis said.

Graduating seniors Siri Jacobs and Ariny Reyes also made commencement speeches at Thursday’s ceremony.

Want to celebrate a graduate in your life? Submit your own graduation announcement to Noozhawk’s Class of 2025 showcase.