El Toro Grads Charge After 80 Different Four-Year Colleges
- June 22, 2011
For many of El Toro High School’s seniors, Tuesday night’s graduation ceremony could not have come soon enough.
Senior Nicole Small, one of three student speakers, joked that the event signaled “recovery” from senioritis, “a neurological disorder that [invades] the minds of post-pubescent humans causing our work ethic to be destroyed.”
The line drew laughs from her audience at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center, but, as the rest of the ceremony made abundantly clear, despite the senioritis, the El Toro Chargers class of 2011 still managed get plenty done during its four years.
“[They’ve] set the standard and left tough shoes to fill,” El Toro High Principal Allan Mucerino said.
Of the 618 graduating seniors, 80 percent will be pursuing some form of higher education. They will attend a diverse group of more than 80 different four-year colleges and community colleges.
They will leave having won $3.7 million in scholarships to further their education and after collecting a record-breaking 76,400 food items during last year's holiday food drive to help others.
Many have taken Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes and participated in extracurricular activities ranging from drama to lacrosse—a fact attested to by the profusion of braids, cords and medallions hanging from their blue and gold robes.
Two of them even maintained perfect attendance, showing up for every class of every day of every year of high school.
Senior class president and speaker Collin Parker believes that these accomplishments will open up a world of opportunity to him and his fellow Chargers.
Parker will be attending Cal State East Bay, where he will play soccer for the school’s team.
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