Simi Valley Grads Mark the End of an Era : Education: Cross-town rivals Simi High and Royal High mount hopeful ceremonies, emphasizing the bonds of friendship and support.

Two hopeful commencement ceremonies marked the end of the school year Tuesday evening for Simi Valley’s cross-town rival high schools.

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Hoots and cheers echoed in the outdoor quad at Royal High School as a line of about 460 robed students took their seats.

At Simi Valley High School, the names of about 500 graduating seniors were read in rapid-fire succession, punctuated with shouts of support from friends and family members across the school’s football field.

At Royal, the atmosphere was light and festive as senior class president Kelsey Ryan made quick introductions of the school board members in attendance before scurrying to get his bass guitar and joining the school’s jazz band as they played upbeat tunes by Count Basie and Carlos Santana for the fidgeting mass of students.

Ryan Rose, the autistic student who lobbied for but lost out on a chance to speak before his classmates, listened attentively to seniors Jeannie Krohn and Wendy Wixon expound on the theme “The end is only the beginning.”

This spring, after Jeannie and Wendy were chosen to speak at the ceremony by a committee of four senior class officers, Ryan appealed the decision to the school board, claiming discrimination. His appeal was turned down.

The students on the committee said they were hurt by the family’s accusations and added that they chose the speakers not for who they were but for what they had to say.

Wendy read a poem that challenged her peers to give something back to their community as they traveled the road to success.

Jeannie spoke of the “scary, brand-new life” that lay ahead for the graduates and the memories the students will leave behind. She reminded them that they had survived the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and the floods this year by working together.

For two months last year, the Royal High campus was opened to Simi Valley High School students who were forced out of their quake-damaged school.

At Simi Valley High, valedictorian Nirav S. Shah told the graduating students that the temporary move to Royal had been trying and they had returned to Simi High with their sanity intact only because they could count on the support of others.

“I’m sure none of us would have been able to survive our two-month trip to Royal without the help of friends,” Nirav said.

But during the ceremony, memories of Royal took a back seat to reminders of a more devastating upheaval, the recent deaths of Venessa Gonzalez and Brandon Scott Miller.

The two seniors died in April when a small plane flown by Brandon’s stepfather crashed into an Arizona mountain.

Two chairs stood empty on the field in their memory, Principal Kathryn Scroggin told the crowd, adding that the students courageously faced both the earthquake that damaged their school and the sudden death of friends.

“Through all of this, your determination to rebuild has never faltered,” she said.

Both Venessa and Brandon were graduated in memoriam at Tuesday’s ceremony, amid heartfelt applause.

The crowd grew noisier as more of the 500 graduates were announced. Revelers hoisted banners in the stands, waved anything they could find to attract the grads’ attention and fired cameras from arm’s length overhead in hopeful aim.