Clark Magnet seniors aim for their potential

About 270 seniors at Clark Magnet High School walked off with their diplomas and into the next chapter of their lives during graduation on Wednesday.

Open since 1998, the La Crescenta school has been assigning students senior projects and implementing teaching philosophies that align with the newly adopted Common Core standards even before there was a name for them, said Principal Doug Dall.

“One of the main reasons Clark teaches and achieves at such a high level is because we have been practicing the Common Core and project-based learning for 16 years,” he said.

That success has been achieved while 60% of Clark students live below the poverty line and, for 85% of them, with English not their first language, Dall said.

Seven students in the graduating class were recognized for perfect attendance during all four years of attending Clark.

The race for valedictorian was between five students, including brother and sister David and Mary Agajanian, who both held grade-point averages well above 4.0.

David Agajanian went on to be named salutatorian, while the title of valedictorian was given to Shushanik Stepanyan.

Student Body President Andrew Ansell gave the class speech, titled “Fractions” because the inspiration for his remarks came from a math book.

While flipping through the pages, he noticed the fraction 2/7ths and he related that figure to the two days over the weekend students really enjoy themselves, while they seem to be on autopilot during the five days of a typical school week.

“With this perspective, we are only 2/7ths of the potential of what we can be,” Ansell said.

He even referred to the first day of freshman year as 0/4ths. About 720 school days passed after that, with everything from the freshman pancake breakfast to senior prom in between, Ansell said.

He encouraged students to go on to their college careers and study something they love so they can enjoy their week as much as their weekends.

“It may seem like the past four years were a lifetime, but we still have 4/5ths of our life ahead of us,” Ansell said.