Graduation Day means a lot to every senior who picks up his or her diploma and hears the cheers of friends, family and faculty. This year 126 such seniors left 12th grade behind to begin the rest of their lives—but for five local students, the event signified something even more special.
The five outstanding seniors are called “FirstGen” students, the first generation in their families to graduate from Healdsburg High with plans to attend four-year universities this fall, according to information from Corazón Healdsburg.
“These students have demonstrated dedication, resilience and ambition, and are paving the way for future generations,” read the communication from Holly Fox, the communications specialist at Corazón Healdsburg.
The graduating FirstGen College Counseling seniors are: Yuridia Hernández Velázquez (who will attend CSU Northridge); Tomás Flores Zamudio (Cal Maritime); Ariana López (Sonoma State University); Leslie García (UC Berkeley) and Virjinia Onate Mendoza (CSU Long Beach).
The first FirstGen cohort graduated in 2019. In total, Corazón has supported 52 Healdsburg High School students to gain acceptance into the colleges of their dreams.
FirstGen helps prepare historically underserved high school students in Healdsburg to become the first generation in their families to enroll in a four-year university through comprehensive one-on-one support of the entire college application process, Fox said.
A small ceremony held at Healdsburg High on Sunday, June 9, was attended by the students, their friends and family, and Corazón Healdsburg staff.
“These young leaders have shown incredible perseverance and dedication, overcoming both personal challenges and global challenges like the Covid pandemic to achieve their dreams,” said Bianca Calderon, Corazón Healdsburg’s college and career prep program manager. “We are honored to support them as they step into their futures.”
Two days earlier, on June 7, these five and 121 other HHS seniors attended the regular graduation ceremony on the Healdsburg High School campus. The memorably hot weather lasted up through the ceremony’s 7pm start time.
Speakers included John Linker, a retiring English and AVID teacher who has taught in the district for 23 years, and students Natalie Pile and Leslie Garcia.
Once again this year, there were no valedictorian or salutatorian speeches, a practice that has fallen out of favor in public high schools in recent years, said District Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel.
“At HHS, students are ranked into deciles when reporting to colleges. Thus, our highest-achieving students in the top 10% of their class are reported to colleges as such, similar to a class rank. This not only recognizes their outstanding achievement, but removes the ‘gamification’ and stress of trying to gain the title of valedictorian,” said the superintendent.
Vanden Heuvel emphasized the educational success of the district. “And, as one of the top high schools in Sonoma County in terms of A-G completion and UC acceptance rate, we continue to have students matriculating to top universities around the country. This year’s list includes UCLA, Berkeley and Vanderbilt University.”
The 126 grads included those who graduated on May 31 from the alternative programs at Marce Becerra Academy at HHS.
