Reflections and Hopes

Among the many voices that will soon be heard at traditional high school graduation ceremonies throughout the county will be those of the class of ’89. Following are excerpts from the graduation speeches of six local high school students, in which they discuss the accomplishments of their classes and outline their hopes for the future:

Sonali Perera, 17, Magnolia High School, Anaheim

Varying cultures and differing races often pose problems to people whose views are constricted and narrow. Yet, these problems can be overcome by expanding our view to encompass the enrichment provided by peaceful interaction with people of all nations.

When we look around today at our graduation class, our gaze falls upon students from all parts of the world. We are the prototype of the future because we draw strength from diversity, are bound to friendship and our view spans infinity. We are all a taste of the glory and the dream of an ideal world.

As an illustrative example of the kind of climate and the type of special people that Magnolia breeds, I have a simple story. I can testify to the fact that having led a rather nomadic life, finding oneself transplanted in yet another school can be extremely difficult. This time the transition was from a Catholic convent school in Sri Lanka to an American public high school. To say that this was a new experience is so much of an understatement. Gradually my eyes were opened, and I was able to delight in the unique character of an American high school (and to) realize how much an American high school has to offer the average student.

It is here that I established true friendships amid the stress and complexities of school life. Friendships that I hope, by some miracle of correspondence, will last forever. It is here that we were exposed to teachers who drew us out of our respective shells, encouraged us in critical thinking and then answered our endless questions patiently. It is here that we experienced the support of a wonderful administration that helped us to achieve our full potential and encouraged us in all ventures. We do indeed have so much to look back on and be thankful for.

Lastly, but most importantly, we owe thanks to our parents for absolutely everything they ever did in the interests of our education.

Craig Turk, 18, Foothill High School, Santa Ana

What did we learn in these four years? We learned to try; to accept criticism. We learned to accept help, and we learned to succeed. Learning to accept criticism was the hardest.

We learned that our parents and teachers really did want to help us and we learned how to best utilize this help. In short, we discovered how to incorporate what was being offered to us and to decide what success meant to us individually.

Where are we going now? Hopefully, to develop useful, salable skills in areas of our own choosing in order to become established in a world increasingly troubled by social and economic problems. We are entering a phase of life where personal decisions are increasingly important.

The year 2000 is 10 years and six months away. Those of us graduating today will spend most of our lives in the 21st Century. We will prepare for this future by learning to be flexible and developing a base of knowledge upon which to build. We can’t really guess what will be the most pertinent skills in future years; we’ll have to generate our tactics and tailor our interests as we go.

Foothill has given us some of the basic tools, and now we need to go out and strengthen the areas which best suit each of us. This class is filled with personable, interesting, bright, people. It would be fascinating to look forward to our 15th class reunion in 2004 and see what we all will have accomplished and how much we’ve enjoyed it.

To our parents and teachers, our sincere thanks for starting us in the right direction. To our classmates, the best of fortune.

Surely, we are not completed products yet, but perhaps we have learned enough to suspect what might be most meaningful. So we wish for all of us--a future filled with achievement, prosperity, health and peace.

Rachelle Lyons, 18, St. Margaret’s High School, San Juan Capistrano

We live in a time of apathy and relativism and yet, St. Margaret’s, the faculty, and our parents have tried to teach us that the significance of life lies in the four values of love, friendship, family and success.

Love is a hug from an understanding friend, a teacher’s interest in a student’s world view, a parent’s pride as we graduate today. Love is a risk in today’s world of isolated individuals; a risk to be dependent and vulnerable. And yet, the environment at St. Margaret’s has made this risk easier and love more natural for us.

John Powell identifies a common human fear when he writes: “To me, this is the most frightening of all possibilities . . . to think that you or I might die without ever having really loved or really lived.” We know what love is and how fundamental it is to life because of the love we have received from faculty, parents, and friends. It is up to us, as graduates and as adults, to allow this love to give us strength and compassion throughout our lives.

Like “The Giving Tree” which we read about as children, our parents give us everything out of love. And the giving will not stop today. They will continue to give as we go on to college, careers and families of our own. Likewise, the larger family, the St. Margaret’s community, has given us much.

If we grow in our independence from society, our lives will grow in their depth. If we choose safety and conformity, however, we will eventually resemble the man in this parable who, scared of failing, never lived.

St. Margaret’s hasn’t just given us an education. It has also offered us love, friendship, family and success and ensured that these values will be present in all of our lives. Somehow, a “thank you” seems inadequate. In this case, we can politely thank you--St. Margaret’s, faculty and parents--and let your gift be quietly, even accidently, shelved, or, we can respond to your love. We have been given the gift; it is now up to us to use it.

Sharad T. Patel, 18, Katella High School, Anaheim

We have assembled here to witness the commencement ceremonies of 371 possible future engineers, mechanics, businessmen, politicians and other essential members of our society.

The road was long and the ride varying.

We have grown, been through the rigors of a binding curriculum and experienced the changes which make the world what it is today.

Changes are what are most important to remember at this time in our lives. The changes that have brought us here, the changes that make us what we are and most importantly--the changes that will take us where we are going.

Now we must move on to another plane of opportunity.

Indeed, as described by one of our administrators, we started as rough coal and worked, observed, learned, struggled and experienced in order to grind ourselves into a diamond.

We must now move on and form our facets and set ourselves on the plateau of life--if there is one to be reached.

May we remember, if nothing else is learned in this afternoon of celebration, that well done is always better than well said, and may you all always back your words with actions.

We are the building blocks of America’s future and shall fulfill the needs of a growing, changing society.

Christopher Munsell, 17, St. Michael’s College Preparatory, El Toro

Five years of my life have been spent on this hilltop. For me, that is a long time. St. Michael’s has became an intricate part of me that is not easy to leave. Principles, respect and memories are all treasures that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I leave St. Michael’s now, but nothing will take its place in my heart.

I owe much to a senior who took me under his wing when I was new to this school. He taught me things about St. Michael’s that I couldn’t have figured out myself. He taught me that in order to be successful I had to give 110% of myself to the school if I wanted anything in return. This included hard, tedious work and unprecedented self-discipline.

I came to realize there was more to St. Michael’s success than just room leadership and student council positions. Values like reciprocation, friendship, care and responsibility were the real signs of success.

The senior who opened my eyes did not have to do what he did. It may have been what he thought he owed to St. Michael’s, but I am not sure. It showed me that he cared about what became of the school after he left.

So do I. My class and I have worked too many hours, sweated too much blood and cried too many tears to see this school decline.

I am proud to say that I have done the same that was done for me during my eighth-grade year for at least one eighth-grader this year. I helped him to realize that there was more to St. Michael’s then many people think.

I helped this little eighth-grader realize the same things that I was ignorant of when I was his age. I hope and pray that through the next important years of his development he will learn to use the tools that St. Michael’s offers. . . .

A challenge faces the class of ’90. Use this year as a steppingstone for even greater goals next year. A class of so few can do so much, and I trust you will make the most of it. Stay strong and you can accomplish the goals you set and much more.

Yvonne G. Lin, 18, Esperanza High School, Anaheim

After graduation we will be out in the world, working or going to college. In doing this, we have a common ulterior motive: to make life better for ourselves. What we may not realize, though, is that we are simultaneously making life better for someone else.

We entered this world knowing nothing. We were enlightened by our teachers, our parents and society around us. They have given us something that has helped us go through life. Now it is time to give some of those skills that we have to help some less fortunate person succeed.

By utilizing the knowledge and the skills that we have attained here, we can make a difference in the world. Granted, it will not be easy. There are, of course, obstacles to overcome in our efforts to rid the world of these maladies.

While we work to create a brave new world we must also work to enlist the help of others.

It is this challenge that makes us the way we are. Throughout our lives we, like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz,” have traveled on our own “yellow-brick roads” and encountered and overcome obstructions toward our dreams and aspirations. As freshmen here at Esperanza High School, our first obstacle was to adjust to this big new school. Later on, we did, and then our primary goal was graduation.

We have reached that day. Although we have come to the end of one path in our lives, another road has opened up for us. It is now that we must begin to help those who need our help. It is not a written duty to help, of course, but it is our duty to understand that we can and should help.

With what we have gained from our stay here at Esperanza, we should know how much each and every one of us can contribute to the world. With the help of those we love we will be able to realize all of our dreams.