New Haven Elementary School Principal David O’Leary called Wednesday’s promotion exercise another phase for 61 of his eighth graders.

“That means you have another four years of school,” he said at the special event held at the Manteca Senior Center. “What a way to ruin the evening.”

It was also O’Leary’s way of adding a little humor to this milestone for a group of young people en route to high school.

“Our job was to get you ready for those next four years,” he said.

There were plenty of recognitions to go around for these New Haven students. 

Leading the way was Joseph Hardy and Christian Tapia. Both held the top academic honor, maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Hardy was also named the school’s Outstanding Student.

Angel Luna-Moreno and Hannah Osgood were recipients of Manteca Unified Character Awards.

The Class of 2015 was accepted by Superintendent Jason Messer for fulfilling all the requirements necessary for high school.

Included were the following: Wendi Albarran, Kynnady Andreetta, Sandra Artiaga, Fernando Calderon, Oscar Carranza, Joshua Castaneda, Ryanna Castillo, Jorge Cerna, Karissa Covey, Troy Cox, Taylor Craig, Jenna Cunnius, Griffin Dhanota, Juan Diaz, Michael Diaz, Gianna Dirks, Logan Enox, Katalina Escobar, Dominick Filipowski, Joseph Fowler, Jaqueliny Galvan, German Gonzalez, Alexandra Guzman, Joseph Hardy, Kaylin Hebert, Marquise Higgins, Cruz Incencio, Zackary Isaak, Destinee Ismerio, Nathan Krusee.

Micah Ledesma, Hayley Leonard, Michael Lively, Angel Lopez, Angel Luna-Moreno, Kayla McConnell, Brisda Montes, Jeremiah Nagy, Alyssa Nascimento, Christina Oates, Hannah Osgood, McKenna Pamplin.

Romeo Paredes, Santiago Perez, Juan Ramirez, Wesley Rice, Shane Robinson, Jacob Robles, Joseph Santos, Asiah Scott, Grace Scott, Caitlin Souza, Christian Tapia, Kyle Trueba, Lynn Uluao Cunningham, Adriana Urquieta, Jalen Valladroid, Cecilia Vega, Alyssa Wilkinson, and Josephina Yanez.