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# Class of ’05 heads into the world
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/class-of-05-heads-into-the-world/
- Published: 2005-06-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:17:17.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Flowers fill air during commencement ceremonies*

SAMOHI — Santa Monica High School’s Class of 2005 proudly bid its farewell to 12 years of public school education on Thursday.

In a ceremony replete with laughter, shouts and a few tears, Samohi’s 775 graduating seniors remarked on the joys and struggles of the last four years, while keeping an optimistic eye out for the new challenges ahead.

With spirits high, the seniors — donned in bright blue caps and gowns — marched with beaming smiles into Samohi’s outdoor Greek Theatre, after a serenade from underclassmen. They were met by family and friends standing to the side, a shower of hugs and high-fives and flashing cameras, as they walked down the theatre steps and took their positions on the far side of the arena.

The ceremony, at times contagious with excitement, began a few minutes before 6 p.m., amid a bright, blue, beautiful Santa Monica day.

After a rendering of the Star Spangled Banner, sung by the thousands in attendance, nearly two dozen administrators, faculty members and students took turns sharing, in turn, both the serious and humorous about the past four years.

Speakers remarked that at a time when the California public education system is facing unprecedented financial challenges, and the very nation and world itself seems to be run amok with a lack of quality leadership, there are occasions deserving of celebration.

“Everything good about public education is standing right here on this stage,” said Dr. Michael Burnett, a Samohi teacher. “If you look at these young people, not critically, you will be amazed as much as they amaze me.”

Burnett advised students to follow the advice his father had passed on to him, which was “finding an occupation you enjoy, so you don’t have to work for the rest of your life.”

It was a point well-received by students and parents to a round of claps and laughs, considering 87 percent of this year’s graduating class will be heading on to higher education and have earned $6.1 million in scholarships to help themselves along the way, according to Ilene Straus, Samohi principal.

School superintendent John Deasy followed with a message of equal faith, while reminding those present of the grim realities of the world in which the ’05 class would be charged to lead, having begun their freshman year in the same weeks of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

“You are entering the world at a time when it needs you most, when your leadership will be essential,” Deasy said.

Alluding to a general corrosion of the American character brought by increasing disparities of wealth and the fostering of ignorance, Deasy reminded students to not let themselves to become misguided in the future.

“The willingness to be tolerant, fair and compromise is called ‘growing,’ and it is not common,” Deasy said. “We congratulate your accomplishments, but more importantly, we look forward to your leadership.

“You will always be a graduate of Santa Monica High School, and we will always be proud of you.”

Deasy’s speech was followed by a three-woman dance called “Celebracao,” during which time a beach ball began making the rounds among anxious graduates, until it bounced off a school board member’s head and was snagged by administrators.

Four students representing various races spoke about the lessons learned from the April 15 fights that caused the school to go on lockdown. The four students, friends before the fights, help mend wounds afterwards between conflicting racial groups and said they had “embraced each other’s cultures and made them part of ourselves.”

Before the presentation of diplomas, Peter Haas, a graduate and varsity basketball player, discussed the cynicism he felt going into high school.

“Samohi is a place where students find themselves,” Haas said, while noting “we all bleed blue and gold.”

The momentum seemed to build as the last names were called for diplomas. Then, white flowers flew into the air as students and attendees chanted and cheered.

For a moment there was a sigh in the arena, even silence, as the hundreds of graduates began walking away into an unwritten future.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/062405-01_01.jpg)

to the Daily Press Santa Monica High School seniors cross the threshold into adulthood, snagging their diplomas at a Thursday ceremony. (Photo: See GRADUATES, page 6 Fabian Lewkowicz/Special)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 24, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062405.pdf?ref=smdp.com)