SANTA ANA : High School Gets Its 1st Senior Class

At last, it is their year to rule the school.

Thursday marked the first day of school for Century High School’s first senior class--a group of more than 200 teen-agers who were the first students to attend the $37-million, high-tech campus that opened to only freshmen and sophomores in 1989.

“We’re very excited,” Principal Gerald Arriola said. “This is a very special senior class. They chose to come to this school.”

At the time of the school’s opening, students who lived within the school’s boundaries but were already attending either Santa Ana or Saddleback high schools had the option of coming to Century or staying at their original school.

Hundreds of families, drawn by the “We Are the Future” motto of the new school, which integrates computers and high-technology into every aspect of the curriculum, chose Century High.

Some parents who lived outside of the school’s boundaries resorted to camping out overnight at the Santa Ana Unified School District’s administrative offices to ensure their children of a coveted spot at the state-of-the-art school.

Teacher Shirley Bebereia said many of the seniors are “like family” to faculty because they have literally grown up with the school.

“They are going to be setting the precedents and creating the traditions that will be followed by future senior classes,” Bebereia said. “I think this group feels that sense of responsibility and prestige. I think they are going to do some great things.”

As they arrived Thursday at their class in government and economics, a required course for all seniors that is being taught at the school for the first time, cheerleaders Rachel Evans and Lane Pierson seemed to be taking their new senior rank in stride.

“We’ve kind of been seniors all along,” said Evans. “We’ve started all of the programs here. The difference now is that there are a lot more students around who are younger than us.”

“That’s for sure,” Pierson added. “The freshmen are so little.”

Stacy Delamotte, a member of the football team, said he is enjoying his status as an upperclassman and “role model” but complained about having more students on campus than ever before.

“It’s a zoo now,” Delamotte said. “There were about 800 people in the bathroom during break.”

When the seniors began attending Century, only 1,100 students were at the school. This year, with freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors together for the first time, there will be a student body of close to 2,200 students.

“We want to make this the best year in Century’s history,” said senior class vice president Ami Rossignol, who joined a group of friends for lunch at “the Stramp”--the eye-catching combination ramp/staircase that is the school’s centerpiece.

The friends, many of whom are involved in student government, said they are looking forward to participating in the school’s first senior prom, grad night and graduation ceremonies.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Omar Amarillo, student body president. “This will be the highlight of the three years that we’ve been here.”

Many in the group participated in writing the school’s constitution and alma mater and have been responsible for setting the traditions for underclassmen to follow. These are responsibilities not taken lightly by senior class president Rosie Hurtado.

“When I’m older and I come back to visit this school,” Hurtado said, “it’ll be nice to know that I helped to write its history and was a part of the very first senior class.”