Gilroy
– Three years ago, Cuimei Ma left her home in the industrial
city of Guangzhou in southern China and arrived in Gilroy with only
a few suitcases and rudimentary English.
Gilroy – Three years ago, Cuimei Ma left her home in the industrial city of Guangzhou in southern China and arrived in Gilroy with only a few suitcases and rudimentary English.
Yet when Ma crossed the stage Friday with 437 other Gilroy High School students to receive her diploma, she boasted a grade point average higher than 3.5 in four of her last semesters – a feat only 34 students accomplished. As a reward, she helped lead the two-hour ceremony that took place in the center of the football field under a cloudless sky.
About a thousand parents, siblings, relatives and supporters packed the stands that flanked the field to cheer on the graduates. Throughout the ceremony, they waved neon-colored signs, clutched bunches of balloons and blasted air horns.
Meanwhile, the students – garbed in royal blue robes and caps – shifted in their seats, made phone calls to relatives in the stands, batted at beach balls and cheered at every mention of “The Class of 2007.”
They had plenty of occasions to do so as valedictorian Megan Litle, salutatorian Adam Shorr and English teacher Mirra Shernock celebrated the students’ accomplishments and lent their advice to the audience.
Yet Ma might have found most resonance in the words of Anna Carbonel, the senior class president, who started off the ceremonies.
“It is more about the people we’ve met and the friends we’ve gained that made high school so fun,” she said. “If we’re not going to remember exactly what happened, we will always remember who we were with when we were there.”
When Ma came as a 15-year-old to the United States in 2004, she came with no one. While her parents and younger brother stayed in China to tend the family business, she was thrust into a house with her uncle, aunt and cousin – fellow 15-year-old Mei Liang. Thus, while Ma was separated from her family, she was also matched up with a cousin that previously had been almost 7,000 miles away.
“At first, it was different,” Ma said.
“It was different,” Liang echoed. “But I treated her like my sister.”
Ma went to school, to the outlets – everywhere – with Liang, adjusting to American culture and learning English along the way. Thanks to this acceptance, in addition to gaining the skills needed to excel in class, Ma became comfortable in her new life.
“I opened up and began making more friends,” she said.
Liang was used to acting as an ambassador between two cultures. Living on a farm in Gilroy where her parents grow Brussels sprouts and chives to sell in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Liang helps her parents – who speak only Chinese – interact with the world.
“I help them read letters, write checks, make phone calls to businesses,” she said.
For Ma and Liang – who also had a grade point average higher than 3.5 in four of the past six semesters – graduation did not spell the end of a friendship. The two 18-year-olds will both start this fall at University of California, Berkeley.
“We planned on it,” Liang said. “It’s just better to go with someone you know.”
However, plenty of students will head off alone, and are looking forward to it.
“I’m very excited,” said 18-year-old Jennifer Gustin, who will start at California State University, Channel Islands next year. “I can’t believe it’s over – it went by very fast.”
Parents, such as Judy Salinas – who congratulated her daughter, Amanda, after the ceremony in the midst of a monstrous crowd of graduates searching and spinning to find relatives – shared this sentiment.
“Her first day of school, when she started crying – it seems like it was yesterday,” she said.
Even if it went fast, graduates were aware of the hard work they had in.
“I’m really proud to say I’m a high school graduate,” said 18-year-old Ashley Levonius, who plans to get married next year. “Some people don’t make it, but I’m proud of the people who did.”
Teachers were also proud of graduates, who they described as “quirky,” “fun-loving” and in possession of “big personalities.”
“Just to see them move on to the next milestone in life is fun,” said Mark Carrick, who has taught digital design and animation at the high school for 15 years. “They deserve the best send off we can give them.”
“This is a good class,” said athletic director Jack Daley as he looked over the students. “I really like these kids. I’m going to miss them.”
