Excerpt from the Senior Farewell Ceremony script by Bill Mellis, Salesian Educator of the Year 2023-2024

Do you remember your first day of high school….. the nervousness, the excitement, the anxiety? Well, imagine having your first day of high school taking place in the most difficult way….in the middle of a pandemic. Because that is exactly what this class experienced on their first day of high school. It was quite the unconventional year with all the back-and-forth classes online and in person. It made it very hard for them to get to know one another, and it certainly made it difficult to make new friends, which is one of the best things about your high school years.  

Despite the difficult year, this class took everything in stride. They persevered and overcame that year to achieve so many great things in and out of the classroom. For starters:

• 76 of these 99 students, that’s 77% of them, will graduate with 1st or 2nd honors
• Members of this graduating class were accepted into all nine of the UC campuses, as well as 21 of the 23 California State Universities
• And these students were accepted into colleges or universities in 29 of the 50 states, and Washington DC. 

Next year, they will attend great schools all across the country, such as Swarthmore, USC, Morehouse, and Tuskegee, to name a few, and UC schools such as Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara, and UC Berkeley.  

The Class of 2024 more than took care of business in the classroom; they also had so many great achievements outside of the classroom. It was another great year in the area of our visual and performing arts, as many of these students shined. There were memorable performances in the fall play, The Twelve Huntsmen, and our spring musical, In the Heights; there were two great band concerts and a handful of amazing dance performances.  

We will also be bidding farewell to many great student-athletes, because in athletics…..wow, what an amazing year. Among this class are:

• League champions
• NCS champions
• NorCal Champions
• State Champions
• Our Girls' Volleyball team won league
• Our football team made it to the NCS Championship game
• There was an incredible season from our boys' soccer team, who were co-champions….their first league championship in 20 years
• Our softball team won their first league title in 10 years
• Our girls' basketball team won league and won the NCS Division 1 Championship
• And our boy's basketball team had one of the most memorable seasons in school history, winning league and winning both the open division NCS and NorCal Championships for the first time in program history.

In what might be the best athletics accomplishment this year, six teams won the NCS Team Scholastic award for best Team GPA. That is the most teams who have won this award in one year. 

Seniors - we acknowledge and recognize all of your hard work, accomplishments, and achievements. On behalf of everyone here at Salesian, the administrators, faculty, and staff, we are all so very proud of you and we know that you are coming to the end of just this one chapter in your lives. Congratulations!