Saratoga High School Class of 2013 Overcomes Adversity

Nearly 350 Saratoga High School seniors received their graduation diplomas under a balmy Thursday afternoon sun in the middle of Benny Pierce Field.

Admired and cheered by friends and family looking on from packed bleachers and sitting on the west side of the stadium, the graduates walked up to a makeshift stage where Los Gatos Saratoga Union High School District trustees and Saratoga Principal Paul Robinson handed them their certificates.

Prior to the receipt of the diplomas, the SHS Class of 2013 was praised by Robinson and four fellow graduating seniors for completing their high school careers with success.

Robinson called SHS and the graduates the "best high school in America and the best graduating class," prior to his remarks. It was the principal's first graduating class at SHS.

The principal used a quote from legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, whom he worked with for several years, to counsel the students. "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts," he said. "And graduates, you now know it all."

"It's your chance now to really go out and make it count," he added. "The future looks very, very bright. There are some tremendous things you're going to be able to do based on everything you've done this year."

Robinson urged the graduates to thank their parents, teachers, friends and family for mentoring and nurturing them throughout their high school careers.

"There's always this assumption that your high school years are always the best years of your life ... well, I'm 39 years removed from my graduation days and I can tell you this, that's not true," he said. "There are tremendous days ahead of you that are going to be fantastic."

Robinson lightly touched on the school's loss this year of sophomore student Audrie Pott, who committed suicide Sept. 10, 2012.

"Life has hit you pretty hard. As a school this year, we lost a classmate and we lost a teacher, mentor and friend," he said, about the late educator Stephen John McCue, who died Jan. 4 after courageous battle with cancer.

"Each and every day I've watched you grow stronger and become those kinds of people we want living next door to us," Robinson told the graduates.

He said he had a feeling that the graduates' generation would be the one that would find a cure to cancer, make world peace a reality and reach beyond the moon.

"The only thing I ask of you is this. In all the things that you're going to do from here on out, be happy," he said. "Find that someone or group that you know is going to be there for you in the good times and bad. Connect yourself to people that you know are going to make a difference."

Student Elyse Berlingberg reminded the graduates of all the technological advances made during their lifespan and "a society in which media further and further weighed down upon" their self esteem "pushing the mental state of the American teenager into dangerous stress levels."

"We are a generation of survivors," she continued. "And our success is never more evident than today at graduation."

"Today we celebrate the fact that despite the roadblocks, the heartaches, the late night studying, the doors that closed and community losses, we have reached the finish line ... we pulled through," Berlingberg said. "When the community was torn apart by the loss of a beloved friend, we chose to unite together and just be kind."

SHS alumna Michelle Wang was one of the hundreds of spectators encouraging the graduates. The 2011 senior class president and a friend were holding a large green sign touting the work of her little brother.

"I know many in this class," she said. "I'm excited to see where they end up and what they're going to be studying in college. They're super ambitious."
 
Friend Kaitha Shankar described the 2013 graduating Falcons as "creative ... they share a strong bond. They're really accepting of everyone. I saw many of them hanging out with kids you would never think would go together. They were inclusive."

Wang and Shankar said the Audrie Pott tragedy brought the graduates closer together. "They had to support each other a lot. It was a really tough thing to go to," Shankar noted.

SHS history teacher Mike Davey said many of the graduates have been accepted to elite universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Yale and UC-Berkeley.

"It's a fantastic class both academically and athletically. Virtually every sport made it to Central Coast Section with their leadership," Davey explained.

After caps flew in the air after the tassels turned, the graduates headed for Caifornia Great America for grad night, the first time the post-graduation festivities have been held off campus, Davey said.

The seniors finished school Friday, May 31. On Monday, they observed "Senior Day," learning about college life, receiving their awards and scholarships. On Tuesday they headed for the beach and ...

What was the senior prank this year? "We don't have that at SHS," Davey proudly said.