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Unseasonably dreary weather couldn't darken the mood of Los Altos High School's 2011 graduating class, who made up for the lack of blue skies at their commencement ceremony June 3 by donning bright cerulean caps and gowns, and hearing a series of optimistic speeches given by students, faculty and district administration.

About 344 Los Altos seniors marched up into the bleachers lining the east side of Tom Burt Field and the encircling Leo Long Track at about 6:15 p.m., to bid farewell to their alma mater, as family and friends looked on.

"High school wasn't a perfect experience for all of us," said Erika Schonher, graduating senior and mistress of ceremonies. She surmised that many in her graduating class had suffered from "broken bones, broken hearts" or "broken dreams" -- maybe even all three -- during their four years in high school.

And yet, even though some of her painful experiences may still sting, Schonher remained positive about moving forward. "Embarrassment," she said, "is nothing but the beginning of a funny story."

Principal Wynne Satterwhite kicked off the ceremony with a speech recalling the very first Harry Potter book, published back in June of 1997, when most in the class of 2011 were on cusp of entering kindergarten. With the final movie being released in July, the series of fantasy books and films fits almost perfectly over the graduating class' time in elementary, middle and high school.

Satterwhite thought it fitting to reflect on a few of her favorite passages from the novels, which follow a group of budding sorcerers learning the ins and outs of hocus-pocus during their formative years at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"We don't study magic here," Satterwhite acknowledged. Even so, the material she quoted from J.K. Rowling's books was no less poignant.

Moving through a series of quotes -- "It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but it takes a great deal more to stand up to your friends," and, "It does not do well to dwell on the dreams of others" -- Satterwhite told the class that they will face many hard choices down the road, but that they should not let the fear of making a wrong choice prevent them from moving forward with purpose. "Select wisely," she said, "but select."

"It is not our abilities that show who we truly are," Satterwhite quoted Rowling, "It is our choices."

Just as Harry Potter lived for 11 years in a world completely unlike that which he would enter upon his admittance to Hogwarts, senior speaker Yareli Flores, though born in America, lived in Mexico and began her freshman year at Los Altos speaking no English.

Flores credited her family and her teachers -- whom she referred to as her "second family" -- pushing her to do her best. Like Harry Potter, Flores excelled at her studies and she is headed to college.

Another student speaker, Carolyn Yang, thanked her parents and her teachers for guiding her through four years of learning and self discovery. Yang said she would surely feel a bit sad leaving her hometown behind to go off to college, but, like Schonher, her enthusiasm for her next stage in life was palpable:

"We will take the world by storm, class of 2011!"

Satterwhite shared the graduates' excitement."It has been a pleasure to work with this class," she said. "Class of 2011, you are truly magical!"

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Los Altos High School's class of 2011:

Monika Acharya
Cassandra Achermann
Miranda Adams
Christopher Aiken-Forderer
Hugo Alcaraz
Ruby Alcazar
Amber Alvarez
Peter Ambiel
Caleb An
Morgan Elizabeth Aozasa
Edward Jacob Ayala
Nika Ayat
Martin Aycott, Jr
Kelsey Ayers
Sarah Baird
Jorge Ballinas
Karen Barajas
Jessica Barrios
Viana Bauer
Gabriela Bautista Garzon
Marielle Beaulieu
Lauren Bednarski
Anna Bekker
Clayton Berens
Christopher Beyer
Lauren Biglow
Anthony Biondi
Julian Bliss
William Bliss
Heather Blockhus
Dainen Bocsary
Sophia Borello
Blake Bowers
Andrei Bratkovski
Natalia Bratkovski
Shannon Bray
Derek Breaux
Sarah Breslin
Phelan Brown-Chever
Juan Buenrostro
Tatiana Buffin
Seena Burns
Francis Busuttil
Hannah Butensky
Arseniy Byelov
Charlotte Byrne-Bailey
Gregory Cairns
Alexandra Cala
Jordan Campitelli
Terence Cape
Sophia Carballo
Stephen Carico
Gemaiah-Aunea Carlisle Rideout
Andrew Carp
Brett Carr
Jose Carranza
Miguel Carrillo
Rocio Carrillo
Scott Casas
Edbert Chan
Preshika Chaudhary
Phoebe Chen
Jacquelyn Cheng
Quincy Cheung
Sarthak Chhettry
Duncan Choy
Aaron Chung
Audrey Cole
Samuel Colman
Jennifer Cooper
Melissa Cree
Maria Angelica Cristancho
Lindsey Cunningham
Mark Cuson
Lauren D'Andrea
Megan Davis
Viki Diaz
Paul Dilley
Roxana Dominguez
Michael Drake
Gregory Dwulet
Drew Eller
Carl Elson
Yadira Espinoza
Fatima Esquivel
Claire Evangelista
Teresa Fabbricino
Sarah Fagan
Reilly Farrell
Noga Feinberg
Moises Flores
Saul Flores
Yareli Flores
Erica Flynn
Paul Fomenko
Nicolas Frangos
Darren Franke
Victoria Frantzich
Emilien Simon Fritsch
Rebecca Fulcher
Ryo Funaki
Michael Galdamez
Jessica Gann
Susanna Gao
Angelica Garcia
William Garcia
Yasmin Garcia
Teresa Marie Garrett
Emily Garverick
Daniel Giacomini
Joseph Giacomini
Tyler Gianatasio
Nicholas Giles
Ian Glasner
Edith Gomez
Katherine Gonsalves
Amando Daniel Gonzalez
Jennifer Gonzalez
Randy Gonzalez
Rachel Grate
Stacey Green
Victoria Greenen
Alexander Guo
Yesenia Gurrola
Victor Gutierrez-Cuellar
Whitney Hagstrom
Savannah Hall
Caitlin Halliwell
Jordan Hamel
Jacob Hampel
Christina Harr
Danitza Hernandez
Janette Hernandez
Jessica Hernandez
Laura Hernandez
LizetteHernandez
Edna Hernandez Banderas
Thomas Herndon
Carla Herrera
Irvin Herrera
Joel Herrera
Maria Herrera Carbajal
John Hersey
Kelly Hoover
Sean Horton-Murphy
Edward Hostia
Jason Hu
Carolyn Huang
Jennifer Huffman
Johan Hugoo
Daniel Huitron
Giovanni Ibarra
Joel Infeld
Christianna Iniguez
Jerome Isaac
Addison Iskow
Alexander Jimenez
David Jimenez
Jorge Jimenez
Randy Donovan Jimenez
Kimberly Johnson
Lauren Johnson
Michaela Johnson
Mackenzie Johnston
Gilberto Juarez
Arista Jusuf
Akila Kadambi
Tomer Kaftan
Mitchell Kehlet
Alex Kellogg
Alyssa Kelly
Alexandria Kent
Gokulesh Killer
Abel Kinard
Vanessa Kirchhofer
Madeline Klein
Justin Koehler
Piotr Kozlowski
Chetna Kumar
Edwin Lai
Valerie Lai
Blanca Landaverde
Sean Langhi
Chloe Langston
Marika Lee
Jennifer Leonard
Alexandra Anita Leos
Sierra Letterman
Mark Levin
Sonam Lhamo
James Li
Siaosi Liua
Arian Lobon-Fernandez
Adriana Lopez
Cindy Lopez
Crystal Lopez
Jason Lopez
Jenna Louie
Elizabeth Lukrich
Christina Lum
Brenda Luna
Martin Luna
Zoe Maddalena
Arjun Madhok
Paul Madrid
Karla Maeda
Kelly Mahncke
Curran Mahowald
Claudia Maldonado
Benjamin Malenka
Steven Mangano
Casandra Manzo-Lupercio
Michael Marent
Lynn Marks
Elizabeth Martinez
Noemi Martinez
Jesse Mattingly
Egan McComb
Stefano McCoy
Jasmine McGee
Sandra Mejia
Julio Melo
Omar Mendoza
Martin Merencillo
Jozza Marie Millano
Eve Minkin
Tasha Mistri
Lauren Mock
Hannah Moehling
Mari Molina
Nancy Montebello
John Montgomery
Juan Morales
Kenny Moran
Salina Moreno
Negin Motamedi
Kelly Moulds
Megan Mueller
Colin Mulcahy
Alexander Mulholland
Cinthia Munoz
Dulce Munoz
Kelly Munroe
Laura Murphy
Trisha Nangia
Sarah-Anne Nelson
Jordan Nemelka
Alisa Nesmith
Andrew Nguyen
Huy Nguyen
Marina Nikolic
Alison Nowakowski
Yuka Ogino
Joshua Okero
Brian Ordaz
Jason Orellana
Wesley Oribello
Isaias Orozco
Daniel Osorio
Michael Otrada
Emily Pacholski
Lesieli Palauni
Ian Palmer
Olivia Palmer
Meghan Palu
Kenneth Francis Pasagui
Kendra Passaro
Emma Patrick
Richard Patrick
Tawny Peek
Anastasiya Pereverzeva
Michelle Perez
Maria Perez Herrera
Lauren Peterson
Alexander Pham
Diamara Planell Cruz
Rishi Raman
Francisco Ramirez
Jorge Luis Ramos
Farkhunda Rangeen
Lindsey Raven
David Recht
Estefanie Reyes
Miguel Reyes
Krystle Reynolds
Brenda Rezendiz Navarro
Kyle Riesch
John Rinehart
Jose Rodriguez
Lance Rodriguez
Mariela Rodriguez
Pablo Rodriguez Cigarrero
Elida Rojas
Pedro Roman
Mauro Roque
Jacqueline Rosales
Zia Rosenzweig
Erika Roy
Jill Rubin
Alejandra Ruelas
Abla Saadeh
Julien Salah
Jesse Salazar
Shahan Salim
Gabriella Sanchez
Maria Sanchez
Jaime Sanchez-Guadarrama
Caitlin Sandlin
Daniela Santos
Julia Sauerhaft
Nicholas Schmittzeh
Benjamin Schneider
Erika Schonher
Mitchell Seed
Suzon Senesi
Marvin Serrano-Menjivar
Brett Serviss
Garrett Serviss
Miriam Silva-Buenrostro
Christine Silver
Joshua Sims
Mathew Snider
Amanda Soo
Daniel Spiteri
Justin Standow
Caitlin Stanley
Tyler Stout
Rosiza Stoyanova
Elizabeth Strichartz
Rosalie Struve
Lauren Sucharczuk
Haley Sugimoto
Eve Survilo
Hannah Sweeney
Daniel Tangi
Haley Tate
Madeline Taussig
Marissa Tejada
Andrew Templeton
Haley Teter
Jacob Thompson
Stefan Tian
John Tiffin
Tracy Tilley
Aaron Tolliver
Arrissa Yvonne Tolliver
Gabriel Torres
Rosaura Torres
Heriberto Torres-Gonzalez
Megan Tran
Michelline Tran
Jacqueline Treiger
Christina Trembois
Dimitri Trembois
Jacob Valadez
Kayla-Ashley Valpey-Garcia
Ronald Vargas
Dorian Vargas-Reighley
Michael Vendelin
Nina Venuti
Shanice Vera
Mariana Vieira
Jose Antonio Villanueva
Katherine Virga
Antoine Vo
Jonathan Vronsky
Rowan Walters
Chenyu Wang
Guanghui Wang
Harlowe Wang
Peter Wang
Rachel Wang
Jamie Wasson
Celine Watkins
Rachel Weinberg
Max Wiederholt
Deven Williams
Katherine Wu
Naian Wu
Edmund Xu
Jing Xu
Carolyn Yang
Tiffany Yang
Onur Yildiz
Judd Yort
Gary Yu
Scott Yuan
Zoe Zaorski
Camille Zapata
Bryan Zavala Lombera
Yintong Zhang
Zijun Zhao
Simon Zorin
Edwin Zuniga

The above listed students are members of the Class of 2011. The list includes those students who may not have met all state and district graduation requirements. Only students who have met both state and district graduation requirements will be eligible to receive a high school diploma.

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