Graduation 2003 Graduation 2003 (June 20, 2003)

For Mountain View and Los Altos High graduates, different paths toward diverse futures

By Julie O'Shea

A new millennium. The break up of N'Sync. Freak dancing. An unprecedented presidential election. Terror attacks. War.

Friday the Thirteenth.

Four years gone in the blink of an eye.

For the members of Mountain View and Los Altos high schools' Class of 2003, there was only one thing left to do: let loose a wild cheer as they flung their caps and tassels into the evening sky.

Some 600 grads received their diplomas June 13.

The experience was bittersweet, some graduates noted in their farewell speeches; sad to see this chapter come to a close, but excited to start the next part of their lives.

For most, that means college. But a handful of teens said they plan to enter some facet of the armed forces, while others announced they'll take a year off to travel. A few plan to dive right into a career.

The Voice sat down with a couple of members of this year's graduating class to find out what adventures next fall holds in store for them.

Bren Darrow, Los Altos High School

When Bren Darrow looks back on his high school memories, he will remember how the war captivated his senior year; how the U.S. "spat on international relations" the day it began dropping bombs on Iraq.

"I am a young person who lost his faith, or lost some of his faith, in the system of government we have right now," Darrow, 18, said.

For his final project in AP English, Darrow decided to protest the U.S.-led military strike in the Middle East. In addition to the 14-page research paper he turned in, Darrow spent endless hours preparing to voice his views before a crowd of his peers.

"I picked the topic because I cared deeply about it. ... I wanted people to understand that it's a complicated situation," he said. "I felt it's more important to educated people on what the facts are ... not try and change their minds."

And throw facts at them is exactly what Darrow did. The theater was packed. Many of the faces Darrow said he didn't even recognize, but he held them at attention for the whole of his 10-minute speech.

"You could hear the air coming out of them," Darrow said.

Needless to say, Darrow got an A ("I think") on the project.

Next fall, Darrow will start at the University of Pennsylvania. He's thinking about majoring in political science, but is unsure if he will enter the world of government.

"I always thought it would be a real frustrating life if I went into politics," Darrow said.

But who knows. For right now, though, Darrow said he will stick with trying to uncover the meaning of life -- a task one of his teachers challenged Darrow and his classmates to earlier in the year. It was an assignment Darrow reflected on during his graduation speech.

"I don't know what my take on the meaning of life is," Darrow told his classmates last Friday. What he does know, is that "we are all successful. We are all graduating."

Troy Quevido and Richard Togia, Mountain View High School

If you see Troy Quevido, chances are, Richard Togia is not far behind. The two friends are as inseparable as peanut butter and jelly.

"I'm the jelly though," Quevido says quickly.

"Yeah and I'm the peanut butter," Togia cuts in. He pauses, raises his eyebrow and adds "'Cause I'm smooth."

Quevido and Togia grew up in Hawaii. But their paths never crossed until the start of their senior year at Mountain View High. Now, neither can imagine life without the other. Both have signed up for a tour of duty in the air force and will be moving to Texas at the end of the summer.

The products of military families, Quevido and Togia, both 18, moved around a lot before their families settled on the Peninsula.

Quevido had a tough time with the moves and said he was deeply depressed during the early years of his high school career.

"I was in danger of not graduating," he said. But through with a good support system, Quevido said he made a conscious effort to turn is life around, and soon discovered how much fun high school could be.

As for Togia, he can't wait to start making money and paying his own bills.

"I'm ready. I've been ready for a long time," he said. "This is for everyone who said I couldn't do it. This is just the first step of my life, which is one big-ass step."

Both say they will miss the Mountain View High community and their close-knit group of friends. Will they be leaving behind any special girls?

Quevido shakes his head, but Togia merely smiles. It is Quevido who answers for his friend: "Girlfriends," he said. "Girlfriends -- it's plural."

Lindsay Stephens, Los Altos High School

For Forrest Gump, life was like a box of chocolates. For Lindsay Stephens, that box of chocolates was more along the lines of hammers and nails -- at least life in high school.

Los Altos High School was under construction for much of Stephens' four years there. In an interesting parallel, Stephens, in her commencement address, compares the Almond Avenue campus' changes to her own.

"While workers put up bars of steel and poured concrete, we have forged relationships, constructed a framework for the future and built character," Stephens, 18, told her classmates. "The most important construction that has happened on this campus has been our own."

But "we have only begun to build ourselves, and there is so much more to be done. The world needs people who will dedicate themselves to life and to progress. If we build with hope, compassion, enthusiasm, determination and love, we cannot help, but to remodel our world along with ourselves."

In August, Stephens' blueprints show she will head to Princeton University where she will major in history and international relations. Eventually, Stephens added she'd like to go to medical school.

On her time at Los Altos High, Stephens said it was like "a bittersweet adventure."

Talking by cell phone from her home early last Friday afternoon, Stephens sounds as though she is in a little bit of a hurry. The interview is cut short, but not before she is asked what she hopes to be remembered for. After a slight pause, Stephens, this year's student body president, says with a laugh, "I hope they (just) remember me."

"Maybe the most important things that we have acquired in high school are our friendships," Stephens said, since they add "meaning to our lives and strength to the frame of our soul."

Anthony Robertson, Mountain View High School

Anthony Robertson can't write speeches. He says so himself. Yet he was the sole speaker at Mountain View High School's graduation last Friday.

"While the world may expect a lot from us, it has no idea of the progress our generation is prepared to make. We're lighter on our toes and quicker to the punch than any generation before us. So let's not be dragged down by society's low expectations for our future, let's instead make our own," he told his classmates, who in turn gave him a thunderous applause.

Perhaps speechwriting is his calling; Robertson said he'd been dreaming about what he'd say to his fellow graduates since he was a sophomore. That was a long time to wait, but Robertson, 18, said he was patient. Now that the day finally arrived, however, Robertson, speaking to the Voice just hours before he was to deliver his much-anticipated words of wisdom, said he wished he had a bit more time to work off his nerves, a surprising statement from someone who's been holding a microphone to his mouth for years.

Last year's belly-flop champion, Roberts is used to big crowds, and has been involved in student government nearly from high school infancy. Now he is headed to Chapman University in Southern California where he will major in film, and hopefully be able to help create pithy statements for moviegoers to mull over.

"I've spent hours trying to come up with something spectacular and profound to say. I wanted to stand up here and tell you all something innovative and different that you will remember for the rest of your lives," Robertson said during graduation. "Nothing clichéd, nothing obvious, just something that will compel each and every member of the class to take advantage of the great opportunity we've been granted."

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com