HS graduation celebrations have begun, with DVC partnership programs, YVHS and MDHS

As graduation season got underway last week in MDUSD, the College Now program at Diablo Valley College (DVC) and the Ygnacio Valley HS College and Career Access Pathway (CCAP) STEM program kicked off the festivities with Senior Celebrations on Tuesday, May 27th at DVC. The College Now seniors, who came to the program from District high schools, are officially graduating and receiving their diplomas along with their classmates from the schools where they took freshman and sophomore courses before entering the College Now dual enrollment program as juniors. The YVHS CCAP seniors received diplomas with the rest of the Ygnacio Valley HS senior class on May 28th. Both programs are offered through a partnership with DVC that includes college level courses, providing college credits to students while they are in still in high school. Speakers at both events said students have shown courage, resilience and a willingness to take risks as they chose to pursue rigorous programs that challenged them and offered opportunities not available at all high schools.

The College Now program is based on the DVC campus and allows students to take both community college courses taught by DVC staff and high school courses taught by MDUSD staff. This year's graduating class of 43 seniors earned an average of 29 college units, which means they completed the equivalent of more than one year of college, said Dr. Heather Fontanilla, MDUSD's Director of College & Career Readiness. Student speaker Madeleine Lee is the first graduate in the six-year history of the program to earn her Associates Degree, in Business, through the program. She urged her classmates to always be themselves. And student Johana Hernandez told fellow graduates that they are the only ones who can determine how far they can go. "You all deserve to be here and I know that you will do amazing things because I have seen it in the classroom," she said.

The Ygnacio Valley HS CCAP program offers students the opportunity to study engineering throughout all four years of high school, with some classes taken at DVC in their senior year. Nineteen students from this year's graduating class were honored at the celebration, including five who earned 7.5-11 college units and received a gold graduation cord, eight who earned 12-20 units and received a blue-gold cord, and six who earned 21 units or more and received green-white-gold cords. Their engineering teacher and college professor Joseph Alvarico praised the graduates for daring to dream, including many who are the first in their families to earn college credit. In addition, the students have also been mentored by engineering and manufacturing industry professionals, have engaged in informational interviews and mock interviews, have shared their passions and projects with professionals at conferences and summits, and many have taken on internships, Alvarico said, adding that the college credits they earned through their own hard work will "jump-start that dream that you once shared with me."

The Ygnacio Valley HS graduation, held Wednesday at the Toyota Pavilion in Concord, can be viewed here. It included inspirational speeches from Principal Peter Crutchfield, Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark, Board Member Keisha Nzewi, and students Justine Latorre, Tabasom Rahmati, and Nicole Woods. 

The Mt. Diablo HS graduation can be viewed here. It included inspirational remarks from students Randy Yañez Gonzales, Aleyne Cabezas Benitez and Kuan Te Lu; Principal Dr. Markell McCain; Superintendent Dr. Clark; and Board Member Debra Mason.

The Concord HS graduation can be viewed here. We will recap that and later graduations in the next Friday Letter.

Check out this reel for a recap of the College Now, Ygnacio Valley and Mt. Diablo high school graduation celebrations! 

And please see the School Social Media Highlights below for more graduation event photos. 

Information about upcoming graduations is here.

The City of Pleasant Hill is scrolling the names of College Park grads through Tuesday on its marquee.

All MDUSD high schools recently hosted Senior Awards Nights over the past couple of weeks. District College & Career Advisors have compiled photos from each school's Senior Awards in the attached PowerPoint presentation. Congratulations to all!

MDUSD high schools are celebrating graduations this week and next week! Recent social media highlights include: the College Now graduation celebration on Tuesday, Mt. Diablo HS graduation on Thursday, Olympic HS celebrating individual graduates as they complete required credits before their graduation ceremony on Saturday, and the Ygnacio Valley HS graduation on Wednesday.