Caps Off to the Sequoia Class of 2011

Rather than just rattling off the hundreds of graduates’ names, Principal Bonnie Hansen shared the personality quirks and remarkable achievements of various students.

The and the Salutatorians were of course honored. But the students whose free time was spent researching breast cancer cures and the devoted soccer players who stayed at practice until the sun went down were also given individual shout outs.

View photos of the momentous day in a slideshow to the right.

The two-hour graduation ceremony was more like a family affair, with Principal Hansen sometimes poking fun at the students then applauding them at the next moment.

She called upon many students to stand: those who were the first in their family to go to college, those who worked more than two jobs during high school just to make ends meet, and those who would be serving our country next year in the U.S. Military.

As many graduates will head off to their respective colleges, Hansen was proud to call them “her students,” and reminded them that they would be better off because of the diversity they experienced during their time at Sequoia.

In their speech, Valedictorians and selflessly shared their very personal stories during their time at Sequoia, Schouboe acknowledging her own fears and trepdiations freshman year, and Akana rally his peers with his Hawaiian saying, "I like!"

The other two valedictorians, and , summarized the best, and sometimes difficult, times in high school in a poem that all their classmates could relate to.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened,” Class President Irena Haghighi told her fellow graduates as she quoted Dr. Suess.

And smiles aplenty there were this afternoon.

Valedictorians:

Salutatorians:

Kayla Bauhaus

Megan Beach

Sarah Beach

Samantha Cohen

Jackson Campbell

Nina Darner

Siani Donnellan

Jay Friedman

Kyle Gordon

Julian Hiltbrand Consoli

Thomas Hunter

Tina Kapadia

Clint Kastrop

Roger Knauf

Kaila Manca

Melissa Mast

Katernia Petrova