Laguna Beach graduates celebrate by hitting the sand
Laguna Beach has a style unto itself, and so the town kept with tradition and trotted out its graduating seniors ahead of the commencement ceremony.
The Breakers of the Class of 2023 marched down Ocean Avenue, across South Coast Highway and onto Main Beach on Wednesday, a rite of passage for Lagunans completing high school.
Laguna Beach High’s 272 graduates then filled Guyer Field on Thursday evening to have their names called and receive their diplomas.
Mara Williams earned valedictorian honors, and Myha Pinto laid claim to being the salutatorian of the class.
“Today is your day,” Williams said in the valedictory speech. “I hope you know your worth and know that no one can take it from you. You will never be a burden, and there will always be at least one person who wants you to succeed and prosper. And if you can’t find that person, know that I want you to succeed, know that your teachers want you to succeed and know your classmates want you to succeed.”
Andrew Kelleher led attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance. Speeches were also delivered by science teacher Jennifer Merritt, as well as class speakers Aaron Poe and Dempsey Sadler.
Sadler compared her classmates to the beaches that they stared out at from campus during the course of their time at the school, shifting with the tide and changing for the better.
“In the face of change, we, too, changed,” Sadler wrote in her prepared remarks. “Individually, we transformed, and collectively, we grew into something so much greater. Today, as we leave these sands for other shores, we know from experience that we won’t merely be swept out with the tide, never to return. Instead, we venture into new currents, making space for the new sands of classes that will remain behind us.”
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