Hollister
– Songs like
”
Purple Haze,
”
rather than
”
Pomp and Circumstance,
”
were blaring as Anzar High School’s soon-to-be graduates strode
into the gymnasium Friday to the cheering of hundreds of family and
friends in attendance to see their particular student pass a
milestone.
Hollister – Songs like “Purple Haze,” rather than “Pomp and Circumstance,” were blaring as Anzar High School’s soon-to-be graduates strode into the gymnasium Friday to the cheering of hundreds of family and friends in attendance to see their particular student pass a milestone.
Draped in robes – black for the boys and maroon for the girls – and wearing traditional mortarboards, 57 Anzar students received their diplomas at the evening ceremony, during which several students and faculty members spoke.
Faculty member Amy Boldt said the graduation was a bittersweet occasion. She recalled the year she had spent as an adviser to some of the seniors, saying that, occasional frustrations notwithstanding, she will miss her students sorely. At times choking back tears, Boldt said her students boosted her on tough days and made her feel young.
“With mixed feelings, I realize those days are over,” she said. “These walls have seen you grow from itty bitty freshmen with attitudes to larger versions of yourself.”
Assigning a final task to her students, Boldt asked graduates to go out into the larger world beyond Anzar and spread their “laughter, love and understanding.”
“You’re well-prepared, and the world needs you,” she said.
And Anzar’s graduates are well-prepared, at least if the fact that nearly all of Anzar’s class of 2006 is heading to college is any indication. They will move on to schools ranging from the University of California at Berkeley to Wayne’s College of Beauty.
Among those moving on to higher education is graduate Derek Bjurman, who said he will study general education at Gavilan College. Moments before he and his peers entered the gym Bjurman said he was “totally stoked” to be graduating.
“It seems like such a short time from freshman year to now,” he said, adjusting his mortarboard.
Rick Smiley was at Anzar Friday to see his daughter Alexandria Marie receive her diploma. He needed few words to describe his feelings.
“Yea,” he said. “Hallelujah.”
After the ceremony, Anzar Principal Charlene McKowen said that she was “enormously pound” of the graduates.
“For a kid to walk across the stage at an Anzar graduation, we know that they are aware of what they are capable of,” she said.
Named a California Distinguished School last year, Anzar’s teaching philosophy goes deeper than just rote memorization and preparing for tests, McKowen said. Before they can graduate, seniors must perform service projects and complete an exhibition, which includes both written and oral presentations on a topic chosen and researched by the student.
“At Anzar our main focus is that we make sure students know how to think,” she said, “how to approach any situation in their life after high school.”
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at
lr****@fr***********.com
.
