Class of 2000 Moving On to the Next Phase of Life

Dressed in black and gold gowns, Ventura High’s graduating seniors were eager to toss their caps and take the next step toward adulthood Thursday afternoon.

Principal Larry Emrich beamed as he listed the students’ honors and accomplishments: Forty-three students with a 4.0 GPA. Thirty-one members of the National Honor Society. A quarter of the students headed to four-year colleges and universities, including Brown, UC Berkeley and Stanford.

But from a podium adorned with flowers, student speaker Andrew Keats summed it up best.

“High school is over, but we are not even close to being done,” he said.

Full of pride and enthusiasm, seniors from the Class of 2000 accepted their diplomas and flipped their tassels during graduation ceremonies across Ventura County this week. All together, nearly 9,000 seniors will graduate from public high schools in the county this year.

Students in Fillmore, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark also graduated Thursday, while seniors in Ojai, Newbury Park and Santa Paula will walk across stages today. High schools in Oxnard and Camarillo will hold their commencement ceremonies next week.

Thursday and today also marked the last day of school for many of Ventura County’s 137,000 students, with most of the remaining schools letting out next week.

When the final bells rang, students flooded out of their classrooms, clutching yearbooks and binders under their arms. They hugged, gave each other high-fives and snapped photographs of their last moments of the school year. They said tearful farewells to friends and teachers, and set out to enjoy a long summer.

At Meadows Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, David Ruelas and Michael Mattoon could hardly contain their enthusiasm as they headed home. The pair of 11-year-olds belted out “School’s out for summer; school’s out forever” from the classic Alice Cooper summertime anthem.

Michael said they couldn’t decide whether to go watch cartoons or take a dip in his pool.

Other students buzzed with excitement about family vacations to Sea World, Las Vegas and Hawaii.

Arm in arm, 6-year-old best friends Jennifer Seltzer and Taylor Nelson said they wanted to go have the ice cream they were promised by Jennifer’s mother. “We’re going out for a little celebration,” Ann Seltzer said.

The mother of three said she was happy that the school year was over and that her kids, ages 5, 6 and 11, would be home with her for the summer.

Just before dismissal at Cabrillo Middle School in Ventura, a group of eighth-graders signed yearbooks on the lawn. They counted down the minutes until the end of the school year.

Thirteen-year-old Silvia Vanwingerden’s yearbook was filled with colorful notes: “You are such a sweetie.” “It was fun--keep it real.” “Wow--the year has gone by sooooo fast.” “Stay on AOL.”

Her eyes misting, Silvia said she was sad that some of her friends were headed to different high schools. “I’m going to miss everyone,” she said as she hugged three girlfriends. “We’re like a family.”

Travis Ford, 14, was full of relief Thursday afternoon. No more homework. No more alarm clocks. No more classes. He plans to spend the whole summer watching TV, skateboarding and hanging out at the beach.

Their English teacher, Kristin Pekar, said it had been impossible to get anything done the past few days, amid celebrations and field trips.

As the bell rang, Pekar yelled out to them: “Hey, eighth-graders, you rock. Make us proud.”

At Ventura High School, Ruth Lopez watched her son David graduate. David is the last of six children to receive a diploma from Ventura and will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“Every one is like my first one graduating,” she said as she sat among thousands of parents and friends on the football field. Many held flowers, balloons and cameras.

Ventura High’s grads were a spirited bunch. They bounced rubber balls, threw confetti and blew bubbles during the ceremony.

Several of Ventura’s graduates said they couldn’t believe that the last day had finally arrived. Lacey Robinson, 17, said she had seen so many ceremonies in the movies and she always thought “that will be me someday.”

“Now I’m here,” she said. “And it hasn’t really hit me yet. I know later I’m gonna start bawling.”

Vanessa Varela, 18, said she was nervous about starting Ventura College in the fall and about what she would do after that. But she knows that she and her classmates will make a difference.

“The Class of 2000 is a special class,” she said. “It’s a new era, a new millennium and a new season.”

At Westlake High School, nearly 450 graduates marched into the school’s stadium for a ceremony filled with song and humor.

Reina Slutske drew laughs and cheers from graduates during her valedictory speech.

“Today, we get a fancy piece of paper that says we survived,” she said.

Her sister, Shoshana, 20, said Reina worked many hours crafting the speech, which parodied the hit song “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen).” She said Reina plans to attend San Francisco State University in the fall to study writing.

Senior class president Laura Brakensiek told the crowd that she was happy to have attended Westlake.

“But I’m anxious to move on,” she said.

The ceremony was marked by serious moments as well.

After senior Roger Custer performed Eric Clapton’s “Tears From Heaven” on the saxophone, Katie London and Anu Joshi gave dual valedictory speeches that called attention to Columbine and other school shootings.

“No other class has been watched as closely as ours,” said Anu, with Katie adding, “Our generation has been scarred by numerous acts of violence.”

But they both asked the crowd to continue to believe in youth.

“Invest in the future,” they said in unison. “We’ll do what’s needed to make it right.”

Seniors weren’t the only ones receiving diplomas this week.

At Mira Monte Elementary School in Ojai, 55 kindergartners got their own certificates, decorated with letters, shapes and numbers. At a final assembly called “Letterland on Parade,” the students sang alphabet songs about Oscar Orange and Zigzag Zebra. As they sang, they fidgeted in their fancy clothes and waved at parents’ cameras.

After the songs, teacher Kathy White told the students that they earned a diploma--and a Popsicle. The graduates, whose feet didn’t reach the ground beneath the benches, cheered and smiled.

Betsy Pulley had mixed feelings about her son moving on to first grade in the fall.

“It’s neat, but it’s sad too,” she said. “You feel like they don’t need you as much. They’re not so little any more.”

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Gorman is a Times staff writer and Cooper is a reporter for Times Community News.