When Palisades High opened in 1961, the school didn’t even have a senior class. This year, 657 students received diplomas on June 20, the largest graduating class in school history. Inaugurating a new policy, every graduating senior received five tickets, which meant that instead of the traditional chaotic scrambling for seats, there was a dignity and calmness befitting a graduation. Student body president Eeman Khorramian, who will attend UCLA, led the Pledge of Allegiance, and senior Korinna Kaplanis sang the Star-Spangled Banner, filling the sports stadium with her pitch-perfect rendition. Headed to Santa Monica College, she is a professional singer who is well-known in Greece. Senior class president Madeleine Hausberg, who is headed for the University of Wisconsin, welcomed the capacity crowd, followed by a multi-lingual welcome in 13 languages that represented the school’s ethnic diversity, including Greek, Tagalog, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, French, Hebrew, Farsi, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Krio and Indonesian. PaliHi had two valedictorians this year, Heejae Yang and Gabriel Kaufman, who each took 12 Advanced Placement (AP) courses and had duplicate grade point averages: 4.425. Salutatorian Ernest Schmid, who will attend UCLA, took 11 AP’s and had a 4.4 GPA. Yang and two classmates, twins Jessica and Nikki Haddad, were three of only 50 students nationwide admitted to Brown University’s Program in Liberal Medical Education, an eight-year B.A./M.D. program. Yang reminded students of the four-year journey most of them had shared. ‘It’s so amazing how much we’ve grown, both through our experiences and through the underlying Pali tradition of preparing students for success. It’s reassuring to know that next year, and the year after that, this tradition will continue to encourage students to grow up.’ She also spoke of personal growth in the years ahead. ‘I hope in this journey that we take, we will enjoy our lives, as Walt Whitman said, ‘immense in pulse, power, passion’ and Pali pride.’ Kaufman, who plans to major in nuclear engineering at UC Berkeley, urged his fellow seniors to ‘find a place, just one place, that you may have walked by or looked at a hundred times but which you have never actually taken the time to see. This time, go in. Really take in the details. You may find people whom you have never met, opportunities that have been overlooked, and happiness you never expected. And never give up that sense of wonder to see the world for the very first time.’ Dr. Pamela Magee, who is completing her first year as principal and executive director, told the seniors that she was proud of them and that this ceremony was a celebration of their accomplishments. ‘You have lived up to my expectations,’ Magee said. ‘As you leave, take the PaliHi traditions with you.’ In lieu of an outside speaker, all seniors can audition in front of the faculty and administration for the opportunity to speak at commencement. Zachary Hotis (UCLA-bound) and Ethan Garber (Cornell) were chosen to speak. Hotis gained everyone’s attention with his opening statement: ‘Hi, I am the new kid from New York and I’m here today to talk to you all about Pali tradition.’ He explained that the day he started his senior year at PaliHi was also his birthday. During fifth period, the teacher noted it was his birthday and asked if someone had anything nice to say about him. ‘Silence,’ he said. ‘Literally, you could hear the crickets and I’m thinking Can this get any more embarrassing? So I turned all bright red and slammed my head against the desk when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a hand shoot up and this girl who I’ve never seen before looked at me and said with the biggest smile, ‘He’s from New York! That’s pretty cool!’ I smiled and everyone burst out laughing. That day, she really changed things for me, she showed me I wasn’t so alone. Her little act of kindness, something so simple, went so far. So I made a note to myself: Pali tradition is about compassion.’ Garber quoted from a Beatles song, ‘There are places I remember/all my life. Some have gone and some remain,’ and then added, ‘To me Pali is one of those places.’ He noted some things that have stayed the same since PaliHi opened such as Mama G (English teacher Rose Gilbert) and the school’s proximity to the beach. Changes included the diversity and the size of the school population, which comes from more than 100 zip codes. Choir director Josh Elson wrote ‘Graduation Medley 2012,’ which allowed senior soloists Alana Best, Holiday Donaldson, Julia Jamieson, Lisette Piette, Krishaun Quarles and Anne Steele one last chance to showcase their voices at Pali. Helene Kunkel, director of the college center, said that about 52 percent of the graduating class will attend four-year-colleges in 33 states and Great Britain. The list includes all the UC campuses, plus Dartmouth, Carnegie Mellon, Colgate, Stanford, Virginia, University of Chicago, Pittsburg, Vanderbilt, Bowdoin and Oberlin. Kunkel also noted how students are choosing an increasing diversity of out-of-state schools, this year including the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Southern Oregon, Nebraska Omaha, Kansas, Eastern University, Pace, Ohio University, Seattle University and Portland State. About 45 percent of the seniors will start at a community college (hoping to transfer to a UC or other four-year college), and seven students will go directly into the armed forces, including the Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy.
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