At a special June 2017ceremony, the graduates of the Claremont continuation school San Antonio High School are honored for their achievements. Many of the students' stories are inspiring because most of them started out in danger of not graduating, but flourished in the smaller, more tailored setting. By Sarah Torribio for the Claremont Courier.
At a special June 2017ceremony, the graduates of the Claremont continuation school San Antonio High School are honored for their achievements. Many of the students' stories are inspiring because most of them started out in danger of not graduating, but flourished in the smaller, more tailored setting. By Sarah Torribio for the Claremont Courier.
At a special June 2017ceremony, the graduates of the Claremont continuation school San Antonio High School are honored for their achievements. Many of the students' stories are inspiring because most of them started out in danger of not graduating, but flourished in the smaller, more tailored setting. By Sarah Torribio for the Claremont Courier.
EDUCATION Claremont COURIER/Friday, June 17, 2016 5
SAHS salutes to 24 grads during awards ceremony
G raduating from high school is al- ways a significant achievement, both for a graduate and their family. For those moving on from San Antonio High School, however, the event can hold a bit of added weight because, at one point or another, each of the teens in the Class of 2016 realized they werent going to get their diploma without taking some significant measures. After spending time at the local continuation high school, working feverishly to fulfill their high school requirements and benefiting from a more personalized approach, 24 SAHS students took part in the gradua- tion held on June 9 at the Claremont High School football field. In many cases, the grads were reunited with their former classmates, because they had started their high school career at CHS before moving on to San Anto- nio High School. The day before commencement, the students gath- ered with their peers in the SAHS quad for an awards ceremony to celebrate some notable achievements. They were joined by family members, school staff and local luminaries like Superintendent Jim Elsasser, school board members Dave Nemer and Steven Llanusa and Citrus College trustee Sue Keith. Like all good parties, it started with a meal. COURIER photos/Steven Felschundneff The food is ready. Relax and enjoy yourself. Eat a San Antonio High School senior Vicente Ascencio greets the guests at an awards ceremony last Wednesday lot of tacos, because I know Im going to eat a lot of at the school. Mr. Ascencio gave the welcoming address during graduation on Thursday at Claremont High tacos. And dont hit the horchata before me, 17-year- School. old Vicente Ascencio, who served as emcee Mr. Delgado has high praise for Jessica, for the event as well as San Antonios gradu- who won the Champagne Award for her ation speaker, joked. sparkling personality. After dinner, it was time to acknowledge Shes a complete role model student. We some San Antonio standouts. Several stu- got her involved in ASB, and wherever some- dents received scholarships, such as Kiwa- thing needed to be done, she did it. Shes a nis Stan Larson scholarship. Mr. Larson rock star, he said. owned the Claremont COURIER until late The ceremony was a time of pride for An- publisher Martin Weinberger purchased the gelica Sevilla, whose daughter Sarah Sevilla newspaper from him in 1954. The Larson won the Monet Award in recognition of her Award went to James Johnson Cumberland prodigious artistic talents. and Zenia Zavala. Sarah was struggling, facing some emo- Other students earning accolades as well tional challenges, and basically skipped an as a bit of college money included Kimberly entire semester of high school during her jun- Pirillo, winning the Citrus College Bright ior year. She transferred to San Antonio her Future Scholarship; Zoey Bell and Jessica senior year ended up falling in love with the Martinez, winning the Rotary Community school. College Scholarship; Mohammed Hamida Sarah worked diligently to catch up and is and Alexis Long, winning the Schools First now headed for Citrus College. She wants to Credit Union Scholarship and Zoey Bell be a teacher but also plans to take some es- winning the Delta Delta Kappa Gamma Senior class president Zoey Bell delivers a speech to her fellow grad- thetician classes. SAHS just seemed to work Leadership Award. uates during an awards ceremony last week at San Antonio. better for her than a traditional high school. In addition, every student was given a Being a smaller school she got to connect novelty award representing the unique quali- individually. And everyone I met here has become a with the teachers and with the principal. She ties they brought to the campus during their San Anto- close friend. felt valued. It means something, Ms. Sevilla said. nio tenure. Vicente was awarded the Pride of the Vicentes mom, Gabriela Sweningsen, was also The awards ceremony represented a banner day for Lions Award and, while the novelty awards were just worried when her son began at San Antonio. SAHS, as the staff prepared to bid goodbye to the in fun, SAHS Principal Sean Delgado said there is I cried, and I wanted to stay all day in the parking schools 50th graduating class. And the day topped off true meaning in the title. lot, she admitted. Right away, he came home and a banner year. Vicente has really transformed a lot. The biggest said, You know what, mom? This school is not bad. The thing Ill always remember about this year is thing hes developed since Ive known him as a soph- They saw him as a person, not a numberas a kid that we went from a recreational sports league to a omore is confidence, he shared. He didnt have whos not learning for a reason. I remember the spe- full-fledged sports league, consisting of five schools, much, but now he grabs the mic and emcees. He lets cific words. They said, Well find a way to teach Mr. Delgado said. Another big thing is we opened his personality shine. him. our sports court. Vicente, who played baseball at SAHS his junior The San Antonio environment also helped Jessica Dave Nemer, a retired math teacher who taught for and senior years, will be taking his larger-than-life Martinez, who came to the school during the second 20 years at San Antonio High School, said the school personality to a community college, possibly Citrus, semester of her junior year. She completed a near- still remains closest to my heart. to knock out some general ed credits. Then, he hopes record number of classes, including two ROP courses: He celebrates all of the improvements at SAHS. to transfer to a culinary school. His high hopes are in web design and video production and plant justice, a Still, some things never seem to change. direct contrast to how he felt when he headed for program where students garden and learn about the Its always been offered to students as an alterna- SAHS. political ramifications of food production and access. tive way to success in high school, and an alternative At first I felt it was going to be something that Mr. Delgado put me in ASB. I never would have way to move forward in their lives, he said. would trouble me in the future because of the reputa- Sarah Torribio been in [student government] before. ASB opened my storribio@claremont-courier.com tion the school had, Vicente said. Just the first day I mind, she said. started, I knew the change between CHS and here. She now plans to go to Chaffey College, studying My teachers took the time to work with every student nursing.