Maranatha Christian High sees 79 of its Eagles graduate

Maranatha Christian High School said goodbye to 79 of its students as the Class of 2018 graduated on May 25.

The commencement ceremony was held at Maranatha Chapel in 4S Ranch.

The class is significantly larger than last year’s 45 seniors, and all who applied to college were accepted, school officials said. Acceptances came from universities such as UC Davis, Purdue, Pepperdine, Baylor, UC San Diego, Northwestern, Cal Baptist and the University of San Diego.

Superintendent Jess Hetherington served as the master of ceremony and the commencement message was delivered by Pastor Ray Bentley of Maranatha Chapel.

Among students recognized were class Valedictorian Amanda Gwaltney and Salutatorian Anna Azeka.

In lieu of a Grad Nite celebration, Maranatha’s tradition is to have a week of activities that “celebrate the individual,” said spokeswoman Kathy Wall. “The students spend Senior Week participating in small events where they can spend quality time together – solidifying their relationships before they go off to college. We are small enough to build relationships, but big enough to do something impactful, such as the community service projects during the week of graduation.”

Senior Week began on with a service project to beautify the campus. This was followed with trips to Disneyland and Magic Mountain. Their final service project was assisting at Reigns Ranch, a therapeutic riding program in Fallbrook.

Their graduation day began with the traditional Senior Breakfast that included the seniors, their families, teachers and campus staff. After the graduation ceremony, they gathered for a reception hosted by the junior class.

The Class of 2018 members are: Lauren Alberts, Jeffrey Altice, Devin August, Anna Azeka, Grace Barnard, Kaylyn Bell, Micaiah Boettner, Lauren Bothe, Jake Brambila, Adam Buffini, Andie Burns, Nixuan “Jessica” Cai, Selah Campbell, Gon Woo Cha, Austin Chambliss, Joshua Cheigh, William Collins, Alex Dai, Ryleigh DeJong, Joseph Dowdy, Austin Dunlap, Jillian Eppard, Justin Garmer, Alec Gechoff, Zihan Geng, Justin Gray, Dianna Guadarrama, Amanda Gwaltney, Josiah Hepner, Jessica Hewett, Mark Hewitt, Rilee Hoch, Kathleen Holt, Jeffrey Horst, Karinne House, Shiqing Huang, Chenjia Kuang, Mu Li, Ruiyi Li, Tiantian “Tina” Liu, Yiying “Nora” Long, Lily MacIntosh, Kyle Masangkay, Brandon Mathews, Christian Mixer, Elise Mountain, Daniel Murphy, Seiichi “Sage” Nasu, Kally Norvell, Ryan Park, Ryan Popat, Leiana Rodiles, Grant Rupe, Rae Salas, Vaughn Schnoebelen, Joshua Schroeder, Josiah Secrist, Nathaniel Self, James Shannon, Sydney Sheng, Wenqing “Steve” Si, Matthew Simpson, Lashley Smith, Aaron Smith, Alexa Suydam, Joshua Thiry, Ashley Tran, Sarah Trent, Ryan Trent, Morgan Volek, Peicheng Wang, Jordan Ward, Phillip Willis, Mary Wood, Haoxuan Yang, Samuel Zanella, Xian “Eunice” Zhang, Ziyu “Kristina” Zhang and Zhetai “Jack” Zhou.

Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com