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As graduating senior Melanie Mauro-Perez gazed out at a sea of supportive faces at Alta Vista High School’s graduation ceremony Thursday, there were two people she was particularly looking for: Her parents.
“My dad never got his diploma, so Dad, please stand up,” she told the crowd in Spanish. “We did it.”
Mauro-Perez was one of 22 graduates from Alta Vista this year. Alta Vista, with its smaller classes, serves as an alternative school in the Mountain View Los Altos High School District. Students often transfer there when they fall behind on the credits needed to graduate.
Board President Thida Cornes congratulated the students Thursday for their hard work, while also opening up about her own struggles in school. As an immigrant, Cornes said her high school experience presented both challenges and opportunities: While she had friends and supportive teachers, she was still mocked for her Burmese mother’s cooking and her movements. Cornes has non-progressive dystonia, a neurological movement disorder. One teacher even told her that she “didn’t belong” in a class.
Cornes told graduates that while many of them have faced similar challenges – some which they have shared, others which they have not – their perseverance led them to that ceremony.
“Here you are on this graduation stage because you kept showing up,” Cornes said. “You kept trying and you kept moving forward.”
For Kaeleen Villegas, the road to graduation was tough, with days when she had to make the conscious decision to go to class despite personal obstacles holding her back, Villegas told the Voice before the ceremony.
“But I pushed myself through it,” she said. “After this, I’m going to be in college, and I see myself either starting a business or having something to do with business. That’s my thing.”
Fellow graduate Connor Studdard, who spoke during the ceremony, said that many of the students had to grow up too fast – some had jobs, responsibilities, an unstable home life or mental health struggles. Some fell behind or felt unseen, but Studdard said that Alta Vista offered them each a fresh start.
“Life doesn’t care how many times you fall behind,” he told the crowd. “What matters is whether you get back up.”
During the intimate ceremony, held in the school’s auditorium, each graduate had the chance to provide a departing quote, a short excerpt about themselves and an acknowledgement of the people who helped them graduate. Read by Alta Vista staff, many of the students thanked their parents, their teachers and their loved ones as they received their diplomas.
Graduate Victor Romero-Tirado, who gave one of four student speeches during the ceremony, thanked Alta Vista food service worker Kathy Arellanes during his speech for her small acts of kindness. Her smiles and brief conversations meant the most, he said.
“Thank you for being such a warm and caring person,” Romero-Tirado told Arellanes, who had just sat down in the audience. “You made people feel seen.”
Alta Vista Principal Suzanne Wolfolk told the graduating class that there wasn’t one story that could capture all of their high school experiences, but that Alta Vista provided them a solid foundation for future success.
“You started on a path to a life truly full of joy and purpose,” she told the graduates. “One that makes you and your families proud.”
And pride is exactly what Mauro-Perez’s father, Adrián Mauro-Ortiz, said he felt for his daughter, who plans to enlist in the United States Marine Corps next year.
While he said he would have preferred her to pursue a safer career – like nursing or law – he added that he supports his daughter and whatever path she chooses to take.
“Parents always imagine the worst. But, like I told her, if that’s your dream, we’re not going to crush it,” he told the Voice in Spanish. “If she wants to do that, we’re going to support her.”
Check out this year’s list of Alta Vista High School graduates and read our interview with Connor Studdard, one of the graduating seniors.
