440 Gilroy High School seniors graduated Friday
Gilroy – During his junior year Marcus Im faced a serious dilemma.
That year a Gilroy High School counselor entered him as a candidate for the Rensselaer Medal, a four-year scholarship granted to high school juniors with distinguished records in math and science.
Im ended up winning an $80,000 scholarship, but it didn’t take long for him to realize Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute just wasn’t the right fit. Foremost, attending the Troy, N.Y.-based college encompassed trading the West Coast for the East, a move that didn’t interest the California boy.
And on the practical side, the modest teen with the shy smile, figured out that a California public school would end up costing him about the same as Rensselaer, considering the hefty price tag on the private school. But, there’s another reason Im chose the University of California, Berkeley: although the 18-year-old excels in math and science that’s not the career path he plans to take.
Instead, Im intends to major in English and become a youth pastor.
“I really wanted to do something with my life that would impact and hopefully change the world a bit,” he said.
While his parents initially expressed concern, saying he wouldn’t make much cash as a youth pastor, they eventually came to terms with it after realizing just how important it is for Im to devote his life to God and service.
Im also had a difficult time choosing between Berkeley and University of California, San Diego – beach versus urban environment – but again looked to God for help.
“I figured since Berkeley is the No. 1 public school I felt that I was lucky to get in and I didn’t want to miss out on the chance God gave me,” he said.
Like Im, the 440 seniors who picked up diplomas at Gilroy High School’s Friday evening commencement ceremony, went home as adults staring at a future of untapped potential.
The seniors will all head in various directions – the military, universities, community colleges, trade schools or straight into the workforce. They’ll become plumbers, doctors, construction workers, engineers and teachers.
But, as students and a former teacher related in their speeches, the Class of 2006 won’t be forgotten.
“I’m proud to have been a teacher here at GHS,” said Peter Gray, the graduation keynote speaker. “I’m proud to have taught the graduating class of 2006. I spent almost 18 years here. I was a teacher before some of you were born.”
The blistering heat didn’t keep anyone away from the graduation ceremony. Crowds of family and friends descended upon the football stadium filling the bleachers, lining up along the fences and huddling on the outskirts under the bit of shade provided.
Valedictorian David Bress treated the crowd to a humorous and informative address, telling funny stories about high school and even voicing his opinion on certain educational issues. The youngest of four boys and all GHS graduates, he opened with a quip, apparently referring to diploma mix-ups of the past.
“Graduates of the Class of 2006, look to your right and now to your left, one of these people might accidentally receive your diploma,” Bress said.
Bress, who will head to the University of California, Los Angeles in the fall, mentioned the changes Gilroy high’s campus has undergone during the past four years, including a new football field and student center. He alluded to the school’s “tardy party,” when students have to pick up trash for being late and pointed out that faculty should focus on improving the drop-out rate, not punishing teens who are five minutes late.
And he brought up how some of his friends chose private schools over Gilroy high.
“We must ask ourselves, what does Gilroy high have that all those private schools do not? The answer is: girls,” he said to laughter from the crowd.
If the words uttered by these seniors represents their collective personalities, then the Class of 2006, was quite the comical bunch. When asked how she would describe her class Elizabeth Rothenberg said, “I’m glad we got here because it took a long time. We’re kind of a lazy class.”
The 18-year-old will attend University of California, Santa Barbara.
And Robert Mendez, who plans on moving down south with friends to attend Santa Barbara City College, called he and his fellow students, “dorky, in a good way.”
Worried that Bress would deliver a funnier speech, Salutatorian Allan Chan instead went the more serious route, comparing his class to water, a symbol that is “pure, renewed, clean and alive.” He mentioned how the students had united under the “tragic deaths of Erin Kinkel and Monique Llanos, in realization that life, no matter who we are, may never be taken for granted.”
As the first group of students required to pass the California High School Exit Exam in order to graduate, the Class of 2006 knows it has some serious bragging rights. When Bress pointed out the achievement, the crowd cheered.
Students who didn’t pass the exam did not receive their diploma nor were they allowed to participate in the commencement ceremony.
Gray, the former and beloved English teacher students chose to deliver the keynote address, began his speech saying he had tears in his eyes when he said good bye to Gilroy high in January to take a school district position in Salinas. Many of the students graduating Friday were in his classroom for three of their four years, he said.
Gray also recounted a moment that produced a hearty chuckle from the crowd.
“It was September, English I, ‘Lord of the Flies,’ nature or nurture, savage or civilized, and behavior in the absence of restraint,” he said. “I asked ‘why don’t you get up and leave? It’s a nice day, the door’s not locked, why don’t you take off? What’s keeping you in your chair right now? And Kyle Grogan raised his hand and said, ‘Gravity.’ I had the privilege of watching you mature from smart remarks to keen debaters who could parry back and forth.”
