A jubilant passage — and tenacity — at Vanden graduation

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Moments after walking across a stage to hear her name called, Sherane Negre, a newly minted graduate of Vanden High School’s class of 2023 on Saturday, headed to an area behind Gammon Field to pick up her diploma.

“I’m scared for the future,” said Negre, 18, one of the Fairfield school’s five salutatorians. “But I’m also hopeful for the future.”

Earning a GPA of 4.0 or greater during her years at the Markeley Lane campus, she plans to attend Pacific Union College in Angwin, in Napa County, where she will pursue a nursing degree.

Just a few steps away, classmate and fellow salutatorian Marius Thomas, also 18, said he felt as if he had “accomplished” something.

“I’m excited about the future,” said Thomas, a Richmond resident who earned a 4.8 “weighted” GPA during his time at Vanden.

In the fall, he will attend the University of California, Berkeley, widely regarded as America’s premier public university, where he plans to major in physics.

Vanden High School’s Class of 2023 speaker Elijah Lewis receives his diploma during graduation ceremonies Saturday morning at the Markeley Lane campus in Fairfield. (Reporter photo/ Richard Bammer)

Asked about attending classes during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic affected the better part of three of his four high school years, Thomas said, “At the beginning (March 2020), I was a little bit depressed.”

But he coped, persevered and expanded his interests during that time, he added.

“I took violin and piano lessons,” said Thomas, who with Negre, was one of several student speakers during the graduation ceremony. “Also, I was able to write and read more and contemplate more about life.”

They were among the 380 seniors who graduated at the Markeley Lane campus, about one hour after the ceremony promptly began at 10 a.m. under a blindingly blue sky and a mild breeze cooling the air into the low 70s. The ceremony drew 1,000 people, including the graduates, to the athletic field.

As the students, wearing green gowns and gold sashes, the school colors, filed onto the field, one crossed his arms to his chest, casting a glance at a friend or relative behind a temporary barrior, then pointed skyward, perhaps indicating, in a religious sense, who was responsible for his achievement.

Ja’Leiyah Turner, who took her seat, sported a mortar board decorated with white daisies and the Hello Kitty emoji and the words, colored pink and in all capitals, “Hello Grad.”

After a rendition of Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” and the Viking Band’s performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” Principal Kristin Shields, in her welcoming remarks, noted the students arrived on campus in 2019. She then recounted some of the difficulties and adjustments educators and students made, including online classes for at least a year, during the height of the pandemic.

The class of 2023 was one “determined to make up for lost time,” she said, adding that the 2022-23 academic year was more normal than the previous three.

Shields also noted the school’s vaunted Academic Decathlon team earned a second place at the state finals and the school’s equally talented robotics team, the Robo Vikes, reached the finals. And 143 seniors graduated with honors, she pointed out.

Senior Class President Natalyce Zehms, standing behind a lectern on a temporary stage, addressed her classmates, saying the most important thing is “to live life to the fullest and with no regrets.”

With one of his leis festooned with dollars, Vanden High School senior Dreighton Isaiah Palacios awaits his turn to receive a diploma during graduation ceremonies for the class of 2023 Saturday morning on Gammon Field at the Markeley Lane campus in Fairfield. (Reporter photo/ Richard Bammer)

Wishing her classmates “joy and success,” she also thanked the school’s color guard team, calling it “a second family.”

Class Speaker Elijah Lewis, standing more than 6 feet tall and wearing a bright red lei around his neck, looked out onto the field and said, “Everyone who is here today is capable of overcoming anything.”

He also referred to two Vanden High students who had lost their lives in recent years, Lamont Jones, a student-athlete who suffered from an enlarged heart and died of sepsis on June 3, 2021, and Daniel Hughes, also a student-athlete, who died of a gunshot wound in April 2021.

“Just be proud of yourselves,” Lewis exhorted his classmates, adding, “I can’t wait to see the men and women you turn into.”

Five students achieved valedictorian status and four of them spoke briefly.

Aaliyah Foloquet recalled “sitting in front of a computer” during her sophomore year, as the pandemic raged, followed by “plastic screens” during her junior year. It made for a time at Vanden she described as a “crazy roller-coaster called high school.”

“We’re finally breaking free of all the barriers and reaching for the stars,” she added.

Esther Khait thanked her parents and teachers, who, collectively, “made me the person I am.”

Emily Mueller said, “We did it,” and added that she and her fellow graduates were “ready to move on to a better and brighter future.”

In his brief remarks, valedictorian Quy Tran said, “I’d be nothing without the class of 2023,” and “Never forget where you came from and who brought you.”

Then the salutatorians were called to the stage to deliver their statements, with Bethany Masum saying, “You just have to do the best you can with what you’ve got.”

“Purse your passions and know you are worth it,” she added.

Negre said the class of 2033 had “overcome many obstacles,” and Thomas recited an original poem, including the lines “Words can’t express the feelings I have for family and friends,” and “Hold onto your identity.”

As diplomas were handed out and the name of each graduate was read, most students applauded heartily each time. Hearing the name of a student they knew, friends and relatives released, with a firecracker-like pop, rainbow-colored or gold confetti that, carried by slight wind gusts, floated and fluttered over the field. And sometimes air horns blared sharply.

One of several Vanden High class of 2023 salutatorians, Marius Thomas, 18, of Richmond, moves his tassel from right to left, the traditional symbolic gesture of graduation, during graduation ceremonies Saturday morning at the Markeley Lane campus in Fairfield. (Reporter photo/ Richard Bammer)

A particularly poignant moment during the ceremony occurred when Lamont Jones’ name was read and many applauded, knowing he had died two years earlier. He posthumously received an honorary diploma.

His father, also named Lamont Jones, speaking to The Reporter while walking toward the field just before the 10 a.m. commencement was about to begin, said the diploma gesture was a reminder for him — and anyone else — “to advocate” for cardiovascular health.

A Suisun City resident and father of three, two of whom survive their brother, Jones noted his son died of sepsis, or blood poisoning, a medical condition that arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs.

“Sepsis killed him but he died of an enlarged heart,” said Jones, adding that the graduation ceremony came two years to the day of his son’s death at age 15.

The message of his son’s tragic circumstance, he added, is advocacy for everyone to take care of their heart health and to encourage people to periodically check on it with a physician.

“If you don’t check in, you’re gonna check out,” said Jones.

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