Forty-eight
students received their diplomas Thursday from the Yosemite Joint Union
District High School District’s Alternative Education program. Scholarships
totaling more than $5,000 were also awarded to students.
Two
students graduated from Ahwahnee High School; eight from Foothill High School;
20 from Evergreen High School; two from Raymond Granite High School and 16 from
Yosemite Adult High School.
Scholarship recipients were:
El Capitan
Foundation — Teague Gamble, Tasman Briggs, Meghan Long, Virginia Neufeld, Jay
Pestell, Max Corral and Ena Zohos; Murray Hammerling Memorial, Tasman
Briggs; Positive Living Center Ruth Ross Memorial, Tasman Briggs; Sierra
Sunrise Rotary, Nicolas Villejo III; Sierra Telephone, Virginia Neufeld; Soroptimist
of the Sierra, Tasman Briggs; Staff Award, Dusty Brough.
Dusty
Brough and Aaron Brown also received awards from the Madera County Board of
Supervisors.
Student
speakers were Tasman Briggs, Wendy Ayers and Deborah Sadler.
Tasman
told her fellow graduates a story about an eagle that grew up with chickens and
although the eagle wanted to soar, the chickens told him he could not because
chickens can’t soar.
She said
the students had come to the alternative education program “as chickens longing
to be eagles, but we didn’t know we could.” However, she said, the staff
allowed them to soar.
They
overcame obstacles and stereotypes “but we did it,” she said, “we have
succeeded.”
She had
praise for the young parent program started at Evergreen High School by
Roberta Tackett about 12 years ago. Through the years, more than 100 students
have gone through that program with inspiration and encouragement from Mrs.
Tackett and other teachers at the school.
In
conclusion,Tasman said the graduates may not know yet what it is they want to
do in the future, “but we know we can do it.”
Wendy Ayers said she was grateful
for a program “for those of us who lost our way,” and Deborah Sadler reminded
the graduates “if you believe in something, anything is possible.”
Entertainment
was provided by Flamenco guitarist Dusty Brough, a FHS graduate, and by Alison
Sciarrino, a 2001 Yosemite High School graduate.
Special
thanks were given to Jennifer Lewis who has been a teacher at FHS and EHS for
the past four years. She will be married this summer and move to Bakersfield.
Also singled out for special recognition
by Alternative Education Principal Curt Campbell was Al Pettitt who “has
become an important part of our program,” at Ahwahnee High School. Mr. Pettitt
has been a speaker at the school the past two years and has proven to be an
inspiration to the students, Mr. Campbell said.
Keynote speaker was Priscilla Pike. She
urged the graduates to keep an open mind as they move through life and to make
informed choices.
She told
them that life is full of challenges with no guarantees but “life without
lessons and growth would be meaningless and dull.”
Mrs. Pike
encouraged the students to develop their own measuring rod for making choices.
Use that rod to measure the highest and best sense of what is right at the
time, she told them. Before making a decision, give the choices your best
examination and best appraisal from where you are at the time with what is
available, she advised.
She
suggested that they become investigators and observers of life and that they
stay away from snap judgments. “Don’t be tempted by unqualified judgments,” she
said. “Be open minded.”
Mrs. Pike
said they need to have the ability to laugh at the pain and turbulence that
life offers.
“It’s not
just your education, but what you do with it that counts,” she concluded.
Graduates are:
n Ahwahnee
High School — Teague Gamble and Nicholas Lopez-Medina.
n Foothill
High School —Jordan Berry, Matthew Biggcum, Adam Bogy, Dusty Brough,
T.J. Medina, Brandon Miles, Sara Miller and Daryn Wilson.
n Evergreen
High School — Jennifer Bagwell, Tasman Briggs, Hasan Cano, Brian Castleman,
Cody Crossman, Jessica Hockett, Meghan Long, Travis McCarty, Virginia Neufeld,
Rochelle Peck, Brenna Perry, Jay Pestell, Body Press, Crystal Racht, James
Rowe, Tara Scotti, Amanda Staton, Lawrence Tidewill, Nicholas Villejo III and
Brandon Zambrano.
n Raymond-Granite
High School — Aaron Brown and Jack Hardy.
n Yosemite
Adult High School — Wendy Ayers, Joshua Carrillo, Harry Clarke, Max
Corral, Thomas Frost Jr., Rodney Jenkins, Cody Nagel, Dustin O’Connor, Janine
Olsen, Robert Powell, Sandra Rice, Deborah Sadler, Elijah Sanchez, Vashti
Tannehill, Naomi Turner and Ena Zohos.