Gilroy High School’s graduating class of 2014 didn’t promise to change the world; they challenged each other to do it together.
On June 13, 323 seniors took their last steps as students on the GHS campus, received their diplomas and embarked on the next chapters of their lives. According to Principal Marco Sanchez, 95 percent of 2014’s seniors are either headed to a college or university.
At GHS, the bar is set high—but it’s not out of reach. Every graduating senior completed 80 or more hours of community service and 21 students exceeded 160 hours in total; overall, the class of 2014 accumulated 28,100 hours.
“I’m very proud to see them come in as freshmen and just mature over time,” Sanchez told the Dispatch after the commencement ceremony. “They step up to the responsibilities we set for them. A lot of them have it inside of them and some might need encouragement a little more—but they all crossed the finish line and I’m really proud of them.”
Valedictorian Holly Lam, who earned the highest accumulated grade-point average, said in a speech every graduating senior should be proud of his or her accomplishments.
“To me, we’re all valedictorians. All of us should take pride in how far we’ve come and have faith in how far we can go,” Lam said. “A new and more challenging journey awaits us. As long as we all do the things that matter—the things we’re passionate about and follow the right path—we will all be successful.”
GHS Activities Director Jeremy Dirks—the keynote speaker at the ceremony—told a personal story, from his own graduation from GHS in 1993, dropping out of college to picking up the pieces of his life.
“I lived the stereotype the first year of college and focused on other things besides my school work,” he said. “I had to come home and work the same job I had in high school; I was embarrassed and depressed.”
While on a break at work—broke, out of school and living at home with his mother at the time, he said—Dirks saw a piece of scratch paper and said he felt compelled to write down seven goals to improve his life. He wanted to repair his credit, start a family, become a teacher and earn a master’s degree, among others.
“After writing them down, I made a copy for my wallet and the dashboard of my car. I forced myself to look at those goals every day,” he said. “Every day, I asked myself what I was going to do today to achieve those goals. I slowly started chipping away at them and having that mindset helped me start to feel better about myself. I’m proud to say today I’ve achieved all of those goals … If I can do it, I know you guys can do it.”
Co-salutatorian Sam Aptekar challenged his classmates to take the concept of service beyond the campus’ borders and tackle some of life’s more complicated social issues—from widespread poverty and social inequality to world hunger.
“Our greatest issues today do not rest on the shoulders of a single graduate sitting behind me, but on a group of people—an entire generation,” Aptekar said during his speech. “I truly believe that if we focus on the small things together, the big problems we see today will work themselves out. So, class of 2014, I leave you not with a promise that you will change the world, but with the challenge to come together and watch the world be changed.”
After collecting his diploma, Aptekar said he was exhilarated and grateful for the lasting friendships he’d fostered.
“It’s really exciting. The biggest feeling I have is excitement to get on and do what I want to do,” he said. “I’ll take away a sense of friendship and knowing how important that is, and understanding that friends really do last forever. I think you do need to take time and make the friends who will last a lifetime.”
And the graduating class of 2014 will always have friends on campus, Dirks assured.
As Gilroy High’s seniors left the campus as graduates, Sanchez wants to them to know they will forever be part of the Mustang family.
“Once you’re a Mustang, you’re a Mustang for life,” he told the Dispatch. “It’s a family with a lot of tradition, being the oldest high school in the city and going back over 100 years. We have generations of Mustangs and it’s great to be a part of that.”
