Maranatha Christian High School says goodbye to 45 seniors

Maranatha Christian High School’s Class of 2017 celebrated its graduation on Friday with a ceremony at Maranatha Chapel in 4S Ranch.

Academically leading the 45 students were valedictorian Jessica Xu and salutatorian Antonio Partida, who are the 10-year-old campus’ first two National Merit Scholars, said school spokeswoman Kathy Wall.

Xu, who came in first of her class by earning a 4.65 GPA, plans to major in biomedical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Partida, who earned a 4.30 GPA, plans to major in political science or history at Texas A&M University. Both students are also in Maranatha’s National Honor Society chapter.

The other Class of 2017 members are Chet Allmon, Angelo Aquino, Zac Bridger, Alex Buffini, Joey Cabral, Lorena Campos, Haley Coil, Anna Corey, Christian Cortes, Miranda Cui, Brett Doig, Jasmine Ebeid, Rachel Hadley, Andrew Hong, Melody Hwangbo, Na Young Ko, Izzy Landis, Julia Lawrenz, Caleb Leasure, Sheldon Lewis, Tim Lund, David Min, Alice Newby, James Palmer, Alexa Perezgrovas, Amy Rabun, Chloe Scafiddi, Matt Schumacher, Noah Segoria, Olivia Shan, Trevor Sheng, Byron Smith, Alan Stapp, Louis Tian, Lauren Wang, Ethan Wang, Darby Williams, Connor Woodahl, Antony Yang, Shang Yang, Maya Zanella, Euphie Zhao and Jim Zhu.

Wall said 100 percent of the class received college acceptances. Some of the universities they will be attending are Princeton, MIT, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Cal Poly, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Washington University in St. Louis, Wheaton, Amhurst, Boise State, Baylor, Cal Baptist, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Southern Methodist University, Virginia Tech and Smith.

To conclude their years at Maranatha, Wall said the graduates participated in Senior Week activities designed to “celebrate the individual” through small events where the students could “spend quality time together, solidifying their relationships before they go off to college.”

The week started with trips to Universal Studios on May 22 and the Disneyland Resort on May 23, followed by two days of community service projects.

“All of the seniors worked together to create a permanent seating space on campus, complete with beautiful lacquered benches surrounded (by) lush succulents,” Wall said about their May 24 project. “The students performed all of the tasks necessary to set up the area, including landscaping.”

Their service work concluded last Thursday when the class assisted at Reigns Ranch, a therapeutic riding program in Fallbrook.

Their graduation day activities included the traditional senior breakfast for the graduates, their families, teachers and staff. Following their 4 p.m. ceremony there was a reception hosted by the junior class for the graduates and their families.

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