CITYWIDE — School officials said hundreds of graduating seniors have much to look forward to as they prepare to toss their tassels.
Close to 1,000 students between Santa Monica’s three public high schools will be taking part in commencement ceremonies today, amid a forecast that calls for clear and sunny weather. It’s also the last day of school for thousands of other local students who will return to school in the fall.
But for the graduates, parents and students are set to share tears of joy and sorrow — both relieved and sad that four tumultuous, hormonal-ly-driven years are winding down.
The commencement ceremonies will be followed by the traditional “grad nite” celebrations, starting at about 9 p.m. and lasting well into the pre-dawn hour, according to organizers. The parties are to be held at Malibu and Santa Monica high schools, for which parents and teacher volunteers raised thousands of dollars and dedicated untold hours of time to help make an event their children should remember fondly for years.
When the party ends and the sun rises, students said they will be gearing up for an adult life that will take some of them to four-year universities and others more directly into the local workforce.
As many as 175 students are expected to walk the line at Malibu High School at 2 p.m. today. More than 59 percent of Malibu’s graduating class is set to attend four-year universities.
“We have kids off to Stanford, Princeton... a lot of them going to college back east,” said Mark Kelly, Malibu High School principal.
About 37 percent of the students will be attending two-year colleges in the fall.
“Several of them will be going to Santa Monica College,” Kelly said.
Malibu will be honoring six students who received a 4.0 grade-point average during their high school careers — Elizabeth Beryt, Beau Campbell, Paget Kegy, Nicole Oida, Eva Post and Kelly Stewart.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 23, 2005. Read the original PDF.