AUSD Notes: Almost 700 seniors graduate from Alameda’s high schools

The Class of 2023 students, some who gave moving speeches about the topic, were freshmen when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

The culminating event for every school year is graduation, when students, staff, families and friends gather to celebrate the teen milestone of receiving their high school diplomas.

This year nearly 700 Alameda Unified School District seniors from Alameda, Encinal Junior and Senior and Island high schools and the Alameda Science & Technology Institute graduated in outdoor ceremonies across the Island. Like most commencements, these were marked by cheers and tears.

What made these ceremonies different, though, were the moving student speeches about what the Class of 2023 — who were freshmen when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 — experienced over the last four years, including learning loss, loneliness, anxiety and a surge of resilience that brought them to the graduation stage.

A dozen adult learners also received their diplomas or GEDs in a beautiful ceremony that was rich with stories of personal struggle, resilience and family love at Kofman Auditorium. We congratulate each of these students on passing a milestone that will open new doors to them as well. Slideshows of the five graduation ceremonies are available online at bit.ly/3NlBiYH.

At the website above, the AUSD has published interviews with graduating seniors — including a valedictorian, a salutatorian, a student taking a gap year to work with the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center in Oakland and a student who dropped out, re-enrolled and is on her way to college to pursue a career as an ultrasound technician. The interviews provide insights into how teens have navigated the pandemic and what their plans are for the future.

Those post-graduation plans include heading off to University of California and California State University campuses as well as community colleges all up and down the Golden State. Many have enrolled in public universities in other states such as Montana, Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon and Vermont.

Others will attend private institutions ranging from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy to Vassar College and from Bennington College to the Sorbonne in France. We are also grateful to (and impressed by!) the students who are heading off to the armed forces (including via the U.S. Naval and Air Force academies).

Summer meals: As a reminder, all youth in Alameda are eligible to receive free breakfasts and lunches through the AUSD’s Summer Meals program. Lunches are available at the Alameda Boys & Girls Club, Alameda Point Collaborative, Ruby Bridges Elementary School and the Academy of Alameda from 12 to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday as well as the Shinsei Gardens apartments on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Breakfasts are available from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Academy of Alameda and Ruby Bridges Elementary; from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Alameda Boys & Girls Club; and from 9 to 10 a.m. at Alameda Point Collaborative. No applications or identification are required, and we encourage all youth under age 18 to come by for a nutritious meal!

Susan Davis is the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs. Reach her at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.