LIVE OAK, CA (MPG) – As the first of the area high schools to graduate this year, Live Oak once again held a rousingly fun and moving commencement ceremony.

On Thursday, June 2nd, Live Oak High Schools Principal, Tony Walton, hyped the grads with a chant, “Let’s go Lions”, that could be heard across the field by attendees as the graduates prepared to take center stage. Walton would then lead the grads onto the field and before getting started on his opening remarks, have the crowd give the LOHS Class of 2022 a standing ovation.

In a moment that would choke Walton up, he said “We are losing a piece of Live Oak tonight and I don’t know if he can ever be replaced, which is how it should be.” Long-time teacher at Live Oak High School, David Anderson, would be retiring. Anderson was given a large round of applause from the crowd and students, receiving hugs from graduates throughout the ceremony as they received their diplomas. 

Moving forward with the proceedings, Walton would say that “This is the best graduating class I have ever had,” continuing with “I really love these kids from the bottom of my heart.” As far as their accomplishments, which included surviving two years of COVID-19 academic complications, the LOHS Class of 2022 boasted a list of high achievers, many with prestigious grade point averages. Besides academic prowess, Walton would say that the Class of 2022 showed “strong leadership throughout our school and community and have helped to make Live Oak High School one of the top performing schools in the region.”

Speakers would include Senior Class President Jorge Enriquez Gomez, Salutatorian Servando Sanchez, and Valedictorian Jasleen Gosal. While each speech would have a different tone addressing the crowd and fellow classmates, Walton would ask the crowd to pay special attention to Gosals.

The Valedictorian warned that her speech would not be the typical Valedictorian speech, and focused on some serious subject matters, including COVID-19, mental health, violence against others based on their race or religion, mass shootings, the prevalence of hatred and more. Gosal would say “We’re all thinking ‘this is a graduation ceremony. What does this have to do with anything?’ This, my dear friends, makes it all the more important for every single one of us honored and lucky enough to be graduating today, to realize just how lucky we are to be here.

To strive to counter this hatred and be, not part of the problem, but part of the solution.” She would continue to say, “Change does, and always will, begin with one thing – recognizing and loving the entire human race as one, because one-ness leaves no room for violence. No room for oppression. No room for hatred. We can, if we choose to be, the change we wish to see in the world. It starts with me and its starts with you.”

After the powerful speech, Walton would say that it was one of the best Valedictorian speeches he had heard.

Then, lightening the mood, each graduate was introduced to the crowd with information on what they planned to do with their future, standing in the spotlight as they individually received their diplomas.

As the ceremony concluded the Graduating Class of 2022 would graduate to a cacophony of applause, air horns and more, their families and loved ones meeting them on the field of Arostegui Stadium to celebrate this milestone in their lives.