GILROY
– The students at South Valley Middle School and Brownell
Academy may have worn different colored robes and attended
different ceremonies Thursday night, but the eighth-graders do have
one thing in common, they all graduated.
GILROY – The students at South Valley Middle School and Brownell Academy may have worn different colored robes and attended different ceremonies Thursday night, but the eighth-graders do have one thing in common, they all graduated.
Family members and friends filled the Gavilan College gymnasium with cameras and bundles of balloons to watch the 5 and 7 p.m. graduation ceremonies.
South Valley Middle School opened its ceremony with a warm welcome from Principal Paul de Ayora.
“Today we celebrate the eighth-grade graduation but we must remember it is merely a milestone,” Ayora said. “I am very proud of the students, they have so much potential for the future.”
This also was a milestone for South Valley because this year 294 students were promoted, making it the most ever, said Rita Gutierrez-Fisher, a counselor at South Valley who is retiring after 30 years at the school.
South Valley’s student body president, 15-year-old Alan Hoshida, thanked the administration, coaches and teachers for their knowledge and guidance during a speech during the ceremony. He also thanked parents for their support and the much needed lunch money.
“We have gained life experiences from everyone here at South Valley,” Hoshida said. “It is only going to get harder, but we will take everything we have learned with us as we begin on our new and different paths.”
“I am so proud of my son and all of the students,” said Dia Hoshida, Alan’s mother. “They have a such a dedicated staff at South Valley.”
At both ceremonies the American Legion Post 669 and 217 honored six students from each school with academic awards.
Then it was time for the students to cross the threshold of success and receive their diplomas to a cheering audience of proud supporters.
Later that evening Brownell Academy Principal Suzanne Damm opened her school’s ceremony with her own words of encouragement for the graduating students.
“This is a beginning and an end,” Damm said. “We hope you leave with enthusiasm but that you continue learning throughout your lives. Put aside your childhood, but never forget your inner child.”
The audience at Brownell’s ceremony was offered a treat as the Brownell Symphonic Band played “John Williams in Concert” and Michael Stevens, Brownell’s student body president, gave his commencement speech.
“We have many memories of our times here from, band to Spanish class to those hot dances in the gym,” Stevens said. “I want everyone to have just as much fun and make the most of their next four years in high school.”
School board member Jaime Rosso, at both of the promotion ceremonies, said some of the most inspirational words of the night. He offered his advice for the future of all of the students.
“I am in awe with all the potential you students have to offer, think about your lives and how you see them,” Rosso said. “Think about who your are and what you want to become, the best way to predict your future is to create it through the choices you make and examples you set.”
Rosso also encouraged the students to never lose sight of their dreams, telling them that the world will always need more doctors, engineers and teachers, basically every profession you can think of.
Almost 340 students then walked across the stage to receive their diplomas from the Brownell Academy, bringing the total middle school students promoted from both schools to more than 600.
At the end of each ceremony Gilroy High School Principal Robert Bravo stood up and welcomed the graduating students to high school and offered them a continuing education and a new mascot.
“You are now going to be the future graduating Class of 2007, and you can now call yourselves Mustangs,” Bravo said.
