DIPLOMA TIME: The graduation season is soon...

DIPLOMA TIME: The graduation season is soon upon us, when high school seniors say goodby and set sail toward adulthood. . . . About 22,500 students are graduating from Orange County’s 57 public high schools next week, a 2% hike. But look for a 10% jump in the 300 graduates of the countywide Horizon programs, offered out of 23 storefronts to students with discipline troubles. The reason: cutbacks in school programs for troubled teens. Says Don Larsen of the county Department of Education: “Enrollment is up because funding at school districts is down for special needs programs. You’re seeing this all over the state.”

FIRST CLASS: Santa Ana High School produced the county’s first graduating class in 1893, with just enough students to field a football team. . . . Seven boys and four girls accepted their diplomas at Spurgeon’s Hall that June 16, and a striking 80% went on to earn college degrees, despite this school yell: “Hobble Gobble! Razzle Dazzle! Hokey Pokey Ah! Santa Ana High School, Zip Boom, Ah!”

GRADE A: How do you follow this act? Jessica Shin of Seal Beach, having already performed brain research at Johns Hopkins University and played the clarinet in Carnegie Hall, is among the county’s most impressive graduates. The Los Alamitos High senior will attend Harvard in the fall, and has been invited to present her findings at the American Academy of Sciences. Says Shin, 18: “I really want to work on disease-related research. But you know, the ethics of using animals in research was a big question I haven’t answered yet.”

FUND-RAISER: Welcome to the latest form of recycling: prom frocks. . . . To help bankroll Brea-Olinda High’s upcoming grad night, five seniors collected 100 dresses from fellow students to rent out at $10 or $15 so girls could afford to go. Organizers hope the operation will include other schools next year to expand selection. “We didn’t make a whole lot of money this year,” said parent organizer Kristin St. Clair, “but that was probably due to a lack of publicity and lead time before the dance.”