Seniors mark last Los Amigos moment with turning of tassels
It’s cap and gown season, and with a turn of their tassels, 355 Los Amigos High School seniors realized the dream of graduation on Wednesday afternoon at Monsoor Memorial Stadium on the campus of Garden Grove High.
Brianna Bayliss represented Los Amigos’ class of 2022 as its valedictorian, and Ashlie Benitez earned the honor of salutatorian. Both received the Gates Scholarship, according to Garden Grove Unified School District spokeswoman Abby Broyles.
The college scholarship is a highly selective award that goes to 300 students nationwide each year. It is intended to assist minority high school seniors of outstanding merit from low-income households.
Bayliss plans to major in mechanical engineering at UCLA, and Benitez will tackle economics and mathematics at Harvard.
“To my fellow classmates, I urge you to always be vocal to achieve your goals,” Bayliss said in her graduation speech. “If you are familiar with the film ‘Wall-E,’ you may recall the captain saying, ‘I don’t want to survive, I want to live.’
“When I hear this quote, I realize how much power we have, not only over our own lives, but over the state of our world. You have the power to be more than quiet. Everyone here has the ability to change the world for the better, and it all comes from your voice. Do it for your community, for those you love and for yourself. You are deserving of everything, and you deserve to be heard.”
Senior class president Valerie Lucio Salgado led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance and later her classmates in the turning of the tassels. The national anthem was performed by the Los Amigos choral music program.
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