Readying for Life’s Next Ride

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By Christine Carpenter, Special to the Independent

 

Senior Tyler Fisher, among several student speakers at last week’s commencement exercises, kept classmates laughing.
Senior Tyler Fisher, among several student speakers at last week’s commencement exercises, kept classmates laughing.

What does graduation mean, and where do we go from here? This seemed to be a question on many minds last week while the Laguna Beach High School class of 2013 took the stage after pouring into the Irvine Bowl, filling it with enthusiasm and excitement, reminding everyone that this was in fact, their night.

Each speaker left the audience, smiling, laughing and honored to be a part of this memorable evening. Senior Tyler Fisher, began the speeches, and left his mark with his quick wit. His joke about LBHS Principal Joanne Culverhouse following him from elementary, to middle school and finally high school was one that expressed the closeness the entire class felt after the 14 years they shared. Adding one of his witty zingers at the end, “I’m afraid when I finally get a job, Dr. Culverhouse will show up there too,” making everyone laugh and appreciate the classmates’ rare bond.

Speaker Seneca Jakosky was not one to let the momentum down, delivering words of encouragement and reminding her class to not be afraid to take risks because “the greater the risk, the higher the reward,” something she learned from high school teacher Mark Alverez.

Soon-to-be graduates excited about their future prospects and the post-commencement grad party.
Soon-to-be graduates excited about their future prospects and the post-commencement grad party.

Valedictorian Jared Boetes combined approaches to deliver a speech full of realizations, and comedic relief. Tying in themes of passion, risk-taking, and staying true to yourself, Jarod’s speech hit major high-notes with quotes to his class urging them to be confident in their potential, but open minded, to be passionate in what they believe, but not afraid to listen to others. Before ending, he asked his peers to have faith in themselves, know it’s time to take risks and that inexperience will become experience, only if they are bold and daring. This advice made it clear the class of 2013 felt emboldened for their next chapter; they were ready to be risk-takers.

Social science teacher Mark Alverez used his students’ advice as inspiration for his own missive. Excerpting quotes from this group, he illustrated just what strong and passionate adults they all have become. For instance, student Morgan Lebby felt class of 2013 should never forget the importance of trying; and senior Leah Fletcher humorously advised her class to learn how to ride unicycles, because in life, balance is key.

1.3 graduation IMG_8611The quotes Alverez shared demonstrated the core strength of the soon-to-be graduates was their determination to find their passion in life and to never let it go.

The school principal aimed to prove this class had more than what it takes to achieve their goals. Sharing her story of her bicycle ride across America, Culverhouse related the story to their lives and how they soon may be feeling. She warned them, there will be mountains they need to conquer, but conquer them one at a time; take advantage of tail winds, because they don’t come often; and to be aware of the head winds, which could take the form of a hard class. Her metaphor seemed to ignite the torch of each graduating student to find their way too, and conquer the journey before them.

Joanne Culverhouse concluded her heartfelt speech by saying, “thank you, you made me a better person,” making apparent, that Culverhouse and this group of 250 students had developed a special bond.

It seemed clear, these graduates would be risk-takers; unafraid of falling, but embracing the process of learning how to balance, whether it be on unicycles or ascending mountains.

 

Christine Carpenter is a Chapman University graduate. She is an aspiring writer and looks forward to her adventures as an Indy Intern.

Photos by Allen Bradley

 

Class of 2013

Abbate, Warren    
Agnew, Ethan    
Aguilar, Kevin    
Aguilar, Lesly    
Alcouloumre, Eliana    
Allard, Blake    
Andersen, Kathryn    
Anderson, Spencer    
Andrade, Marina    
Arredondo, Andrew    
Asghari, Jasmine    
Ayala, Jennifer    
Bader, Emily    
Baguley, Spencer    
Baldridge, Mackenzi    
Banks, Brandon    
Barnes, Weston    
Barraza, Armando    
Barton, Reece    
Bland, Tristan    
Bo, Katelyn    
Boetes, Jared    
Bowman, Kaleb    
Brewer, Zachary    
Brooks, Tyler    
Brown, Michelle    
Brunicardi, Isaac    
Bunte, Zachary    
Burnes, Ava    
Bush, Dylan    
Carbajal, Jurisma    
Casey, Joseph    
Cassill, Tyler    
Castro, Andrew    
Castuera, Haley    
Cerdas, Elias    
Chapman, Melissa    
Chawla, Yash    
Christensen, Jesse    
Clark, Grace    
Clawson, McKenna    
Clemons, Robert    
Conklin, Blair    
Cook, Ryan    
Cooper, Cadence    
Corbiere, Loic    
Coury, Richard    
Cowie, Lola    
Crawford, Jack    
Crowl, Avery    
Csira, Brock    
Dalke, Jake    
Davidson, Tyler    
deBecker, Renaissance    
DeBoi, Brian    
Deehan, Emma    
Del Toro, Alexis    
Dellacroce, Hannah    
DelPizzo Howell, Dylan    
Deremo, Emily    
Deremo, Hagen    
Dominguez Gonzalez, Axl    
Duong, Pauline    
Duran, Monique    
Dvorak, Sevana    
Eastman, Ava    
Eastman, Noah    
Eisert, Cheyenne    

Elkin, Cayman
Elmished, Yousef
Even, Kylie
Fair, Grifan
Fairweather, Ian
Farsheed, Adam
Fields, Carrington
Finkelstein, Matthew
Finkelstein, Sarah
Fiocca, Alina
Fisher, Tyler
Fletcher, Leah
Ford, Kenyon
Galland, Margaret
Gallo Delgado, Christian
Galvin, Eva
Garcia, Jack
Gardett, Mackenzie
Garrett, Noah
Gee, Danielle
Gherardini, Kennedy
Glass, Elliott
Goggin, Julia
Goh, Andrew
Greenough, Marissa
Gustis, Nina
Hackney, Kimberly
Hall, Cameron
Hamilton, Teague
Hancak, Alex
Hanson, Blair
Harting, Samantha
Hartman, Bailey
Hauer, Camron
Hedden, Kyle
Henderson, Kasey
Hester, Blake
Hewlett, Sarah
Hosea, Katherine
Howie, Jack
Hryn, Benjamin
Hunt, Noah
Hunter, Dylan
Jacquez, Maryellie
Jakosky, Seneca
Karas, James
Karpinski, Trevor
Kelly, Cassidy
Kelterer, Jordan
Kent, Cory
Kesler, Nicholas
Kimball, Amanda
Kimball, Casey
Kimball, John
Kimball, Logan
Klassen, Sumner
Knapp, Samantha
Knott, Jake
Knutson, Madeline
Koumas, Andrew
Kraft, Quinn
Kvitsinski, Andrei
Lamb, Madison
Layton, Emily
Lebby, Morgan
Lee, Alex
Lee, Michael
Leisk, Sophie
Lightfoot, Janice
LoJacono, Lindsey

Long, Victoria  
Lund, Parker  
Luther, Mikayla  
Lynde, Duncan  
MacCabe, Paul  
MacRae, Kira  
Magnuson, Katherine  
Maison, Dane  
Majano, Jovan  
Manetta, Alia  
Mansour, Chloe  
Marquez, Gabrielle  
Martin, Alexander  
Martinez, Drake  
Martinez, Elijah  
Matthews, Quinn  
Matthews, Reed  
Mauntel, Nicholas  
McCarter, Maxwell  
McClements, Kara  
McInerny, Robert  
McMurray, Anna  
McQuaid, Shannon  
Meisberger, Matthew  
Merkel, Conrad  
Miller, Savannah  
Millerd, Cole  
Mills, Morgan  
Monahan, Katherine  
Mullen, Shelbi  
Mulville, Colin  
Murphy, Alexandra  
Naddeo, Marcos  
Nash, Karver  

 

Nash, Kayla  
Nash, Sydney  
Nasiell, Oliver  
Nathanson, Grant  
Nederlander, Taylor  
Nevares, Ryan  
Niccum, Alecsander  
Nurullaev, Emil  
O’Hara, Tomora  
Olsen, Wesley  
Palmer, Natalee  
Parker, Karina  
Penrod, Corinne  
Pham, Kevin  
Pratto, Zachary  
Pries, Jackson  
Putnam, Haley  
Rand Luby, Dylan  
Rebone, Curtis  
Redfearn, Joseph  
Rees, Jackson  
Reiss, Karina  
Renner, Madeline  
Revels, Curtis  
Reyes Navor, Jovani  
Ribotsky, Chloe  
Richner, Zachary  
Rieckhoff, Kristian  
Riff, Stone  
Rodner, Adam  
Rosales, Neftali  
Rosario Barba, Alejandro  

Rouda, Shea  
Sanchez, Johnathon  
Saxe, Sydney  
Scott, Caleb  
Scott, Rickie  
Severino, Sundance  
Shaw, Sean  
Shelly, Alexandra  
Shields, Dade  
Shirley, Madeline  
Shojaei Asl, Frank  
Shyres, Dakota  
Silvers, Austin  
Simon, Lukas  
Situ, Lisa  
Skinfill, Brendan  
Stalker, Faron  
Stewart, Lawrence  
Strombotne, Derek  
Taheri, Nicolette  
Thomas, Ben  
Thomas, Nathaniel  
Toner, Shaina  
Tovar, Julianna  
Tovar, Kevin  
Uchizono, Kellen  
Vanderveen, Schuyler  
Vasquez, Bianca  
Villalobos, Susana  
Vinograd, Jordyn  
Walters, Kassy  
Ward, Ryan  
Watkins, Stephen  
Weber, Birch  
Weber, Owen  
Weiland, Robert  
Wellsfry, Sarah  
Willette, Dominique  
Williamson, Bryce  
Willner, Carly  
Wills, Mitchell  
Winson, Danielle  
Winter, Jack  
Yindra, Catherine  
Young, Rachel  
Zhang, Wei  
Zur Schmiede, Makenna  
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