Valley Vista High graduates overcome doubts, achieve success
Genesis Mariscal, a member of the graduating class at Valley Vista High School in Fountain Valley, said that she liked to re-arrange things around the house when she was younger.
She would have been in her element if put to task when high schools across the country had to improvise with their graduation plans due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But bumps in the road would be fairly common for Mariscal, who said she attended five high schools and endured a homeless stint in her sophomore year before it was all said and done.
Valley Vista allowed her to cross the finish line to graduation, and several family members packed into the car to celebrate the momentous occasion.
“I want to become an interior designer for homes,” Mariscal said. “When I was younger, I would decorate the house and I would move things around. I always decorated and always rearranged and always looked at a room and had a certain idea of how it’s supposed to look.”
Certain aspects of the graduation were as to be expected. Kerry Clitheroe, the principal, announced over a microphone each student that graduated as they arrived and asked them to move their tassel.
The students were presented their diplomas and then had their photo taken in cap and gown beneath a balloon arch.
Several of the graduating students said that they did not always expect to make it to graduation. Laila Ortua called the school and its staff a blessing.
Ortua said her self-doubt stemmed from a lack of motivation after her father’s passing right before high school.
“I just kind of went through a wave of depression and lack of motivation,” Ortua said. “I never thought that I was going to have the motivation ever to pull myself through this, and I kind of fell down to the wrong path, and then I just stopped going to school altogether.
“One day, I just kind of had an epiphany, and I was like, ‘I need to get it together,’ and everyone here helped me with that, and so now I’m here.”
Going forward, Ortua said she wants to pursue nursing in college with the hope of one day becoming a physician assistant. She warmed hearts at graduation, thanking individual teachers for their efforts on her way out.
The class of 2020 rallied behind each other in their chance to make good, even when a pandemic took them away from their friends and classmates. Hector Gomez Bautista said that group chats were a way to establish that camaraderie the past few months.
“Some of my friends were down, saying like, ‘Dang, I don’t feel like high school ... it’s not supposed to end like this,’” Gomez Bautista said. “I said, ‘Well, what can we do besides finish and move on. We’re not going to stay in this time forever.’”
Andrew Goodman said he received the individual help and the “push” he needed to get through high school at Valley Vista. He plans to go to Golden West College and study mechanics.
A lei fashioned out of candy bars was around Goodman’s neck, a treat for completing high school.
The journey to graduation also taught him a thing or two that he is not likely to forget as he heads into his next great adventure.
“No matter what’s in your way, you can always achieve whatever you want to see, no matter what’s going on with the world or [your] personal life,” Goodman said.
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