As teacher Suzanne Contreras noted during the 2011 graduation
ceremony, senior Salustio Hernandez came across some difficult
roadblocks in his journey toward finishing high school. Before San
Andreas Continuation High School, Hernandez had come from Mexico.
He didn’t speak English or Spanish.
As teacher Suzanne Contreras noted during the 2011 graduation ceremony, senior Salustio Hernandez came across some difficult roadblocks in his journey toward finishing high school. Before San Andreas Continuation High School, Hernandez had come from Mexico. He didn’t speak English or Spanish.
It didn’t keep him from accomplishing his goal, though. Hernandez wanted a high school diploma. So first he learned Spanish, and then English. But when he turned 18, he told Contreras he had been concerned because he had to go to work, had to help his family. He had to make a choice and he did.
“He chose to get up before the sun rose, to go work every morning and come to school in the afternoon,” said Contreras, reciting the story during the San Andreas Continuation High School graduation May 31 at the Veterans Memorial Building. “He chose to take work home and work double.”
The crowd, which filled all the available seats and spilled into the front entrance in the downtown building where San Andreas holds the graduation each year, burst into applause.
“Yes, there were times we had to have some talks,” Conteras said. “The road was getting really, really rough. He would come to school and was really really tired. But he made it.”
Hernandez became the second of two students this year to receive what San Andreas calls the “Perserverance Award” from the school’s special services department. The other was Andy Acosta, whom resource teacher Barbara Noonan referred to as a “young man who knows what he wants” and said he already has been admitted to Cabrillo College.
It was a day to celebrate milestones. It was a day to honor the staff members who worked so hard in keeping the sometimes troubled students on the right path – as the ceremony focused at the beginning on pointing out a plethora of educators and San Benito County Office of Education officials who oversee the campus.
Above all, though, it was that special day each year to credit the students for earning their high school diplomas. The students and, of course, their parents.
“This is the time for the class of 2011,” said San Benito County Superintendent Mike Sanchez as he opened his speech during the hour-long ceremony. “This is your time. This is fantastic.”
See the full story and others in the graduation section with Tuesday’s Free Lance.
