ORANGE COUNTY SUMMER : Youths Gear Up for Next Step Toward Adulthood

The scene at MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate School last Wednesday wasn’t exactly that of a perfect summer day. Beneath leaden, gray skies, 300 students sat with legs in shorts crunched tightly together and arms folded against chests for warmth in the chilly morning.

But despite the atypical weather, the students were participating in a typical rite of summer: rehearsal for commencement.

As in thousands of other schools across the nation, the students practiced how to walk, sit and stand in unison. They giggled when they flubbed the instructions and cheered when they got it right. And while they may not have been conscious of it, the MacArthur class of 1990 was participating in a passage from junior high school adolescence to high school young adulthood.

“You’re only going to stand up two rows at a time, two rows at a time, two rows at a time,” said Principal Thomas Reasin, who paced across the school’s courtyard like a general addressing his troops as he conducted the “promotion rehearsal.” The students nodded at his instructions, and some repeated his “two rows at a time” admonition.

They still didn’t get it right.

“It’s going to be the last time you’re going to be together, so let’s do everything correctly,” Reasin said, gently chiding the soon-to-be high school students as they sat in a mock setting of the Santa Ana High School auditorium, where the ceremony was held Friday night.

The students walked up the courtyard steps to an area that served as the stage and practiced walking across it without bumping into each other.

“You’re still in eighth grade until you get up here,” Reasin reminded them. “Once you cross the stage, you’re in ninth grade.” Cheers and squeals rose from the eager crowd of 13- and 14-year-olds.

At the end of the hourlong rehearsal, the graduates practiced leaving the auditorium in an orderly manner. Many hummed off-key renditions of “Pomp and Circumstance.” By now, Reasin was clearly pleased.

“I don’t believe it,” he told the students as they filed into neat rows and sharply marched out of the courtyard. “No mistakes. Perfect so far.”

The students gave themselves a loud round of cheers, knowing that 48 hours later they would be striding down the aisles of Santa Ana High School awash in the light of 2,000 smiles. They knew that they would be the center of attention, the joy of their teachers and the pride of their families.

But they were also faced with a more sobering thought: In many cases, it would be the last time they would see friends who had been part of their lives for three years.

“I know I’m not going to see a lot of them ever again,” said Diane Espinoza, who will be a freshman at Saddleback High School this fall. “I know I’ll be crying.”

Espinoza and others also confessed to trepidation about being the newcomers at high school.

“We’re going to be way at the bottom” of the social chain, Espinoza said. “They’re going to trash us.”

Student council president Angela Rose, 14, who will attend Mater Dei High School, said she fears that high school will be impersonal compared to the relatively small campus of MacArthur Fundamental.

“Everybody here knows each other,” she said. “I wish we could have some kind of continuation school where we could all go.”

While the students expressed some nervousness about entering a world of bigger books--and possibly bigger bullies--they were also excited by the prospects of what they see as the perquisites of high school.

“They let you do more things there, like chew gum,” said Michelle Pesak, 13, who is headed for Fountain Valley High School.

“There’s bigger parties and stuff,” added Sonny Kelly, 14, a future Saddleback High School student. “They just have parties for fun, or when their parents aren’t home.”

But before this anticipated world of free-for-all gum-chewing and parties will be a summer to relax for this class of 1994. For most, the summer will be filled by family vacations, summer jobs, the beach, the mall--wherever the boys or girls are.

Rose said her summer will be spent practicing for the drill team and working at South Coast Plaza, “so I can afford a car when I get older,” while Kelly said he will use the upcoming dog days to “practice football, kick back and go to the beach.”

Others, saddened by the thought of losing touch with their friends, said they will be burning up the telephone lines this summer, trying to keep in touch with the friends who are headed for new schools. But eventually, the phone lines will cool down, the students at MacArthur will make new friends, and the old ones will take their places in pleasant memories of a graduation rehearsal on a cloudy morning.

“I think everybody is ready to go on,” Kelly said.