Class of 2017 bids adieu to La Cañada High
La Cañada High School’s Class of 2017 assembled Thursday evening in one last gesture of solidarity, reflecting on bonds formed and lessons learned in the past four years and pausing momentarily to appreciate the exhilaration of their shared crossroads moment.
In a commencement ceremony recognizing the hard work and achievements of this year’s 337 graduates, student speakers expressed appreciation for the friends, parents, teachers and school staff who helped get them there and wondered at what the next four years would bring.
Senior Class President Nathaniel Rowe marveled at how the entire high school experience — its dizzying highs and lows and all the hopes, dreams, disasters and friendships in between — makes up just a scant 5% of an average 80-year lifespan.
“It’s important that we remember this is just a moment in our lifetime, one of many experiences to be had,” Rowe said. “But I hope that even as schools and people and parts of the world change, this experience itself doesn’t just fade, but that it becomes part of a much larger picture, one in which we have so much to contribute, so much to give and so much to be grateful for.”
Sonya Kalara recalled the intimidation she felt when she first walked onto the LCHS campus as a seventh-grader, and how she felt like a tiny fish drowning in a huge resplendent ocean. But as years progressed she and fellow classmates learned to navigate the waters of high school life and accomplish some pretty amazing feats as they learned the ropes.
“We are a class that asks, a class that takes a stand, a class that refuses to sink,” Kalara said. “The waters may be calm and peaceful or they may be choppy and rough, but we are ready for whatever the world has to throw at us.”
We are a class that asks, a class that takes a stand, a class that refuses to sink.
— Sonya Kalara
Daniel Oh likened his four years as a Spartan to his first experience skiing at Mammoth Mountain when he was 5 years old and broke his leg on a downhill slope. Things don’t always go the way you planned, he surmised, but with a little help and a lot of learning you eventually come out a better and stronger person for having been tested.
“The most important thing you learn is that the people who pick you back up and dust you off are what makes the whole experience so valuable,” Oh said. “Class of 2017, thank you for giving me a high school experience that was more exciting, unpredictable and more fun than my first ski trip. And from the bottom of my heart, break a leg.”
LCHS Principal Ian McFeat recognized the accomplishments of this year’s graduating class, which turned out 101 California Scholarship Federation Gold Seal bearers, 101 AP scholars, 38 National Merit Commended Students and nine National Merit Finalists. Collectively, the Class of ’17 earned a total of $1.1 million in scholarships, he said.
But McFeat took a moment to thank the student body, not just for all they’ve done in their time on campus, but for the remarkable people they’ve become through their accomplishments and compassionate acts.
“You have marched with hundreds of thousands of women to stand in solidarity for their rights. Many of you have marched against governments that have refused to recognize genocide,” he said. “You are an accomplished group of individuals. We are very proud. (But) we are prouder still for the dignity and character you have demonstrated.”
Diplomas were distributed and graduates threw decorated mortar boards into the air with glee. Afterward, they converged with friends and family members in a crush of excitement, snapping photos and doling out rounds of farewell hugs.
Senior Christopher Morillo said he would be sad to part ways with friends and all the great teachers he had over the years. With grad night at Universal Studios looming and a move to Brown University in the fall on the horizon, he admitted everything seems so surreal.
“In a few days I’m definitely going to start feeling it,” Morillo said.
Twitter: @SaraCardine
