STOCKTON – Manteca High’s 374 seniors entered Pacific’s Spanos Center on Thursday night
as high-school students and exited as high-school graduates.
Following the processional and the presentation of colors, senior class president Emily Inderbitzin led the arena in the pledge of allegiance, and if anyone was destined to be senior class president, it would be Inderbitzin. A legacy thanks to her father Ron Inderbitzin, she is the fourth of his children to graduate from Manteca, and her career there did not start in her teens, but at age 5 in 2011 when she crowned the Manteca homecoming queen and princess.
She pointed out the trials and tribulations her class had to endure thanks to COVID and distance learning, starting their freshman year with distance learning. “If we can handle high school online, we can handle anything life throws at us,” Emily said. “And we will do so together.”
Their class is together for the most part, but classmates Giselle Herrera and Macie Gines died in an automobile accident their sophomore year, and there was a moment of silence in their memory and two chairs with their names on them were in the front row.
In his co-valedictorian speech, Christian Avila alluded to just how fast the last four years have gone.
Avila is quite an accomplished Spanish speaker, and delivered a good portion of his speech in Spanish. He credits his Spanish fluency to Mrs. Ridoloso, who Avila coined his second mother. He also credited Mrs. Haskett for helping him write amazing essays that got him into UCLA, his dream school, and Mr. Gibson for his handling of the senior class in their last year.
He closed out his speech with good advice in both Spanish and English, “Give it your all.”
Perhaps one of the reason the Christian Nguyen earned her co-valedictorian honors is the fact that she had prefect attendance from the first day of kindergarten to the last day of high school.
Nguyen enjoyed tremendous success on the tennis court, and she credits Mr. Fontana and Ms. Tolbert for their tennis guidance throughout the years, along with the support of her tennis team.
Nguyen had some words of wisdom for her classmates.
“So I advise you all to look to the left and look to the right and look in front of you and behind you at a friendly face that will always help you find your way,” Nguyen said. “Because although we may leave this city behind and may never meet again, we are all headed towards the same place – a future where we all make the biggest possible impact on the world.”
Starting with her parents, grandparents and siblings and weaving her way through a multitude of staff members, Elise Miller gave her salutatory speech with a grateful tone, thanking all of those who helped her along the way.
Miller told her class that the most important person who has led each and every one of them to their success is themselves.
Miller alluded to how they may have finished one puzzle, but another awaits.
“The puzzle may be finished now, but once you step out of high school, it will all scramble up again,” Miller said. “However, with your experience, figuring out the puzzle will be much easier than last time.
“You will get new extra hands at the table, and they will let you discover new ways to fit the pieces together. And once you do, you will achieve the greatest things imaginable.”
Denise Pasion presented the California Scholarship Federation awards, Kim Cope presented the National Honor Society awards, Manteca High principle Megan Peterson certified the class and Manteca Unified School District Area 5 Trustee Cathy Pope-Gotschall accepted the class.
Manteca High counselors Rocio Carrillo, Wayne Cheung, Janeen George, Kimberly Martinez, Frank Triglia and Melissa Woods announced the graduates while MUSD Superintendent Dr. Clark Burke, Pope-Gotschall, Francine Baird, Sherrie Jamero, Lisa Goodwin and Candace Espinola presented the diplomas.
