Graduation Scenes: San Marin High

It was the end of an era and a new beginning simultaneously at San Marin High's Class of 2011 graduation ceremony on Thursday at Mead Field in Novato.

Principal Robert Vieth presided over his final commencement before retiring on a perfect evening. There were speeches by senior class president Kevin Kilgariff, teacher Craig Pitti, featured speaker Evan McFadden, salutatorian Isabel Block and valedictorian Mary Welter. Following the awarding of diplomas by Novato Unified School District trustees Ross Millerick and Cindi Clinton, Vieth introduced the Class of 2011 and the mortarboards went sailing skyward.

Here is the graduation speech by Mary Welter (and we thank the San Marin staff for sharing it with Mary's permission).

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Our last week of finals. Our last time turning in battered textbooks. Our last school newspaper. Our last day of high school.

It is daunting to think that nearly everything we have done the last few weeks marks an end to our time here at San Marin. All of us know that we're really leaving this year. Sure, the school will still be here next fall, but we will not.

We're stepping into the unknown, and despite lots of joking and bravado, we're maybe a little nervous. OK, maybe a lot nervous. When we were kids, the dark crannies under our beds were full of hungry monsters and the shadowy recesses of our closets were crammed with thirsty vampires. Both could be easily scared away by a parent switching on a light. The scary thing is that right now, we are the ones who have to find a flashlight and reassure ourselves that we are going to be fine.

Even though high school is over, the tests will keep coming, and this is true whether you're going to college or starting a career. We'll be managing a budget, earning a living, making our own way in the world — and no one is going to be calling home if we mess up. We will always have the love and support of our parents, but we are no longer going to be nagged and pushed into doing our homework or getting a good nights sleep. Now we will be the ones choosing whether we eat ice cream and chocolate or fruits and vegetables. Whether we watch stupid cat  videos until 2 in the morning on Youtube or whether we finish our essay and go to bed. The choice will be ours, and that's a good thing.

From here on out, we have the freedom to decide things for ourselves based on our own judgment.  Are we ready? I hope so. Time will tell.

 We all have memories of accomplishments and failures from our time here at San Marin. They are different for each of us.

I remember walking into Mr. Williams' creative writing class as a terrified freshman. The classroom was noisy. One guy was balanced on top of a tottering desk, loudly humming his solo for the upcoming school musical while his friend ramped up a song from Grease on Mr. Williams’ ancient computer. Another group of students was drawing comics on the white board and laughing hysterically. Two others walked in and started an impromptu dance party. I sat trembling at my desk, hoping that if I stayed very still and very quiet, no one would be able to see me.

It's a little hard to believe that now I'm one of those scary seniors who humms under her breath and no longer a shy freshman who cringes back into her seat at the drop of a pin (though I'll admit that I did get the occasional relapse in Maestra Lowrie's class.)

And here at San Marin, I've seen first-hand what I had always thought was an impossibility and an oxymoron: a funny math teacher. And the amazing thing is I've seen more than one. I've seen three! In geometry, Mrs. Laabs chanted SOH-CAH-TOA at the top of her lungs until the walls of her portable shook. In pre-calculus, Mr. Zechlin physically illustrated what a "disco function" looked like to great effect. And in AP Calculus,  Ms. Gallopin taught us to "massage" our equations to get the best results. These three teachers all interspersed dry theorems and tough equations, with fun times and good laughs. And I'll maintain to my dying day that making students laugh while teaching the derivative is an amazing feat!

Between Maestra Lowrie's comments on dress code and disney movies and Berb's tales of tennis practice gone-wrong, senior year has been memorable. And though it's been a while since freshman year, I don't think I'll ever forget Mr. Lacy crashing rebar into his cabinet to get us to quiet down in geography or having our class personally act out the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Honors World history.

John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” What we’ve learned here at San Marin has helped us make plans, but the people we’ve become due to the San Marin faculty, our parents, and our classmates will determine our lives. Class of 2011, let’s go!