Veritas spr sum 2008.pdf - Bishop Montgomery High School

COMMENCEMENT2008
When Robert Zdjelar crossed the stage
and received his diploma at the 48th
commencement ceremony on Friday,
June 6, the crowd of 2,500 onlookers burst into a
boisterous, extended round of applause. Of course
they were cheering for Robert, but they were also
celebrating the rest of the 281 graduates who had
received their diplomas minutes before him. After
Robert and the rest of his classmates were back in
their seats, Ms. Libbon offered her congratulations
and then instructed the graduates to move their
tassels from left to right, an annual ritual officially
marking their transition from students to alumni
of BMHS.
This year was a special one for the Class of 2008,
not only because they joined more than 14,000 other
graduates as Bishop alumni, but also because their
commencement was celebrated during the school’s
50th anniversary year. To mark the momentous
occasion, the graduates
donned gold
stoles, embellished
with the school’s
that most Bishop
alumni would recognize.
During the
hour and one-half
ceremony, one of
the class’ eight
valedictorians,
Sarah Ballister,
who gave the valedictory
address,
a c k n o w l e d g e d
that the class had
been “blessed”
with an “enduring foundation, created by the love
and work of God, our administration, teachers,
family and peers.” During his speech, salutatorian
Andrew Forney (pictured at bottom right) asked
his classmates to “remember [their] past, live in the
present and look to the future,” and to remember
“We have been blessed with an enduring foundation,
created by the love and work of God, our administration,
50th anniversary
logo on one side and “Class of 2008” on the other,
with their black caps and gowns. At the conclusion
of the ceremony, Ms. Libbon asked the graduates
to think about those who had been “especially
meaningful” to them in their academic careers and
to gift those persons with the “stoles of gratitude”
as gestures of appreciation.
This year, the stoles marked the only significant
divergence from the traditional commencement
A MISSION REALIZED: SPIRITUAL ACADEMIC PHYSICAL SOCIAL
teachers, family and peers.”
Sarah Ballister ‘08
that they were not
“simply the class, but
the family, of 2008.”
This family
of students,
who four years ago, were mostly strangers,
not only to each other but also to the
halls of Bishop Montgomery, confidently
and joyously processed off of the field at
the ceremony’s conclusion on that warm
June afternoon and, after many hugs and
a few tears, marched decidedly into the
next chapter of their lives.
ABOVE:
Class of 2008
valedictorians (l to
r): Sarah Ballister,
Steven Clark, Christine
Daniels, Adrian
Esparza, Philip
Okita, Lorenzo Pumilia,
Rouel Joseph
Soberano, R.X. Uy.
• 282
• 219 (78%)
• 55 (20%)
• 6 (2%)
• 280 (99%)
• 240 (91%)
• 220 (92%)
• 92 (33%)
• 54 (19%)
• 39 (14%)
• 61 (22%)
• 34 (12%)
Class of 2008 College Matriculation
99% of Seniors to Pursue Higher Education
Seniors
Members of the Class of 2008 will attend:
Seniors attending 4-year institutions
Boston University
New York University
Seniors attending 2-year colleges
Cal Poly Pomona
University of Oregon
Seniors attending vocational schools
Catholic University
UC Berkeley
Seniors attending college
Georgetown University UC Davis
Seniors who applied to 4-year institutions George Washington Univ. UCLA
Applicants accepted to 4-year institutions Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
Cal State System
Johns Hopkins
University of San Diego
UC System
Loyola Marymount
USC
Private California Colleges
Loyola University of Chicago US Military Academy
Junior Colleges/Trade Schools
Loyola Univ. of New Orleans Whittier College
Out of State Colleges
VERITAS Spring/Summer 2008 9