South East High Graduating Seniors Leave Feeling ‘Prepared’

Last Friday, South East High School’s Class of 2012 received their graduating diplomas and with that an academic achievement. The hours and years of hard work had finally paid off. An experience that allowed the 600 graduating seniors to remember even the most difficult parts of a challenging curriculum, such as partaking in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, with humor.

“AP means advanced procrastinators, doesn’t it?” said Anthony Salguero, South East High School’s salutatorian. “Even as I was watching a video about the imminent zombie apocalypse on YouTube I thought, ‘I should be writing this speech.’”

Despite Salguero’s tendency to procrastinate, he was able to pass eight AP exams, helping him to land a spot in the engineering program at the University of California-Berkeley.

An academic success story that was not uncommon.

In fact, this year’s Jaguars set a record for the number of AP courses taken and passed at South East High School since being founded in 2005, according to Principal Maria Sotomayor.

The creation of a challenging curriculum coupled with effective teachers and academic advisors allowed this year’s seniors to feel ready.

 “I feel prepared,” said Paola Campos, 18, who will be attending California State University-Los Angeles. “[The faculty] made sure we took the right classes.”

The faculty felt pleased and shared the excitement of this year’s success. Commending the students on their academic merits, but also warning them to not lose their good work ethic.

“They earned their diploma,” said Maria Olvera, psychiatric social worker at South East High School. “I hope they continue to work hard.”

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