Adelanto High’s class of 2015 is first to graduate from new school

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  Victor Valley Daily Press 

  By Charity Lindsey
  Staff writer

  
  Posted May. 22, 2015 at 12:01 AM
  Updated May 22, 2015 at 10:38 PM 
  
  

  ADELANTO — The first Commencement Ceremony of Adelanto High School recognized more than 300 Saints sporting maroon caps and gowns at Julian Weaver Stadium on the school's state-of-the-art campus Friday evening.

  Much of the graduating class first attended Silverado High School, then went to Adelanto High's previous campus on Seneca Road in Victorville — a detour that was longer than expected thanks to a district fiscal crisis that delayed the opening of the new school. As seniors they were able to graduate from a campus in their hometown — becoming the first generation of Adelanto students to do so.

  “I have seen these students grow from young, squirrely ninth-graders at Silverado, to taller, more focused 10th- and 11th-graders at the Seneca campus, to the mature young women and men committed to future success that sit before you all,” said Principal Ebony Priscell in her introductory speech. “To put it simply, I am bursting with pride for these exemplary graduates of Adelanto High School.”

  Salutatorian Antonio Isabeles gave the first student speech, sharing a Mexican proverb that his mother “nagged” him with when he first came to Adelanto High from Silverado: “There is no bad that doesn’t come from good.”

  “I can’t deny that these past three years have been amazing, although they’ve also been the hardest,” Isabeles said.

  He went on to thank the Adelanto staff, particularly English teacher Bree Landry, whom Isabeles said went far beyond her role as a teacher.

  “She is the role model of many Adelanto students, a teacher from the heart, and a second mother to me,” Isabeles said. “This woman is Adelanto.”

  Landry, who also served as a class adviser, says she was equally thankful to have the opportunity to spend so much time with her students.

  “They taught me to let them be their own individual people. They refused to be put into any mold,” Landry said. “They’ll be great leaders.”

  Next to speak was Valedictorian Daisy Alvarado, who is set to attend to St. John’s University, according to her teachers.

  “We are no longer babies, but young adults ready to take on the future,” Alvarado said. “Class of 2015, we have finally made history.”

  Following the speakers, Victor Valley Union High School District Superintendent Ron Williams announced his recommendation of the class to receive the awards of their diplomas.

  The parents of Frankie Ramos, an Adelanto student who would have also been graduating if not for his tragic death in a motorcycle crash in the summer, were invited to the stage in his honor before the rest of the graduate names were read.

  “Lots of the seniors graduating were the students going to board meetings and protesting, asking them to give us our school,” said economics teacher and AVID Coordinator Kevin Skelton. “They fought for this school.”

  Skelton said that of his 51 seniors, 75 percent of them were accepted to universities, with others moving on to the military.

  After the turning of the tassels, the ceremony ended with a literal bang, as Purcell invited everyone to look toward the west of the stadium for a surprise celebratory fireworks show.