It was late 2011 when my son, Sammy, completed one of his first school projects. The students were asked to draw a life-size version of what they imagined themselves to look like when they grew up.
The gym was adorned with depictions of doctors, police officers, vets and fire fighters. And then there was Sammy’s project. His vision for himself had a burly beard, a glove and a ball, wearing the black and orange of the San Francisco Giants. He wanted to be World Series hero Brian Wilson.
As Sammy and the class of 2023 crossed the stage last week, I was reflecting on them—who they are and how we have created opportunities for them to pursue their dreams in the future.
It’s worth remembering that the Healdsburg class of 2023 has not had it easy. They were in 7th grade for the horrifying Tubbs fire and 9th grade for the Kincade fire and resulting citywide evacuation. The next year, it felt like the world stopped when the pandemic hit and did not relent for a year and half. They’ve had a plethora of smoke days, fire evacuations, flood days and Zoom classes.
Yet they’ve pushed through with great resiliency and seem to take life on as if none of those things occurred. Don’t get me wrong; we’ve scrambled to help them along the way, working to give them a boost over every obstacle. Our incredible staff has consistently been alongside them to offer encouragement and support. But this is a strong, creative and gritty group.
Graduation season kicked off in April with our annual scholarship night. The class of 2023, with its 147 grads, was awarded over $500,000 in scholarships—a testament to both their hard work and the generosity of our community.
A few weeks ago, the City of Healdsburg, with the support of our close partner, the Healdsburg Education Foundation, hung the photos of our graduates around downtown Healdsburg. It’s worth a visit to see the proud faces of our kids if you haven’t already.
While we don’t have final data yet, we are very confident that this year’s class will top the class of 2022’s UC acceptance rate of 73%—which was among the highest of any school in the county, beating out Cardinal Newman, Windsor High and Maria Carrillo.
Our 2023 grads have been accepted to universities such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, Grinnell and University of Indiana, and one will even be going to the Universal Technical Institute in the prestigious NASCAR mechanics program. While they still might not be positive what they want “to be” when they grow up, they are not afraid to jump in.
There’s a lot to celebrate. Our staff deserve recognition for how much they’ve poured into each of our students, and our community continues to demonstrate unwavering support. Know that these investments are reaping strong dividends, and our future is in great hands.
And to the class of 2023: We are incredibly proud of you. Keep dreaming big, climbing over anything in your way and lifting each other up. You’re going to do great things!
Chris Vanden Heuvel is the superintendent of the Healdsburg Public School District.
