BEN CHURCHILL SUPERINTENDENT
CARLSBAD UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
This time of year we look forward to recognizing our graduating scholars, athletes, community volunteers, artists, and innovators. But, across our nation, memories of Graduation 2020 will be colored with the coronavirus–students missing out on prom and senior nights, and large graduation parties put on hold to ensure social distancing to keep people safe. We have had to change plans, forgo some of our traditional celebratory events, and create some new ways to acknowledge our graduates.
Because of the pandemic, Carlsbad Unified has postponed high school commencement ceremonies until July 23, hoping that by then it will be safe once again for students and their families to gather. Nevertheless, on June 11 the students were celebrated with a Class of 2020 virtual graduation video presentation, zoom parties, graduation car parades, and virtual senior awards events.
- Carlsbad High School (CHS) is proud to celebrate its 540 graduates. CHS’s Valedictorian is Ian Johnson, who is headed to Cal Tech. Co-Salutatorians are Edward Gardner, who is off to Dartmouth, and Shayda Moezzi, who will attend MIT.
Students have been honored with numerous awards and scholarships for colleges across the country, such as Dillon Tedesco’s $200,000 Navy ROTC scholarship to attend Villanova.
Here are some of the colleges and universities that CHS students plan to attend: UC Santa Barbara, Irvine, Berkeley, and UCLA; CSU San Marcos, Chico, Channel Islands, San Jose, Northridge, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and San Diego State; Cal Lutheran, US Military Academy West Point, University of San Diego, LMU, Pepperdine, Harvard, MiraCosta College, Northern Arizona U, BYU, and Vanderbilt; Universities of Oregon, Indiana, Utah, Alabama, Missouri, and Arizona; William and Mary, UC Boulder, Fordham, USC, U of Denver, NYU, Occidental College, Arizona State, and many more.
- Carlsbad Village Academy and Carlsbad Seaside Academy congratulate their 40 graduates. Most of these students have already taken and passed classes at MiraCosta or Palomar Colleges, and plan to continue to attend in the upcoming year. Three students were honored with Carlsbad Rotary Club Scholarships: Jaden Hall, Robert Hungerford, and Brooklyn Silva.
- The Sage Creek High School (SCHS) Class of 2020 has 268 graduates. SCHS Valedictorian Samantha Low will attend UCLA. Salutatorians Schuyler DiBacco, Nathan Pereira, and William Yao are also all heading to UCLA, and Benjamin Hartley is off to Harvey Mudd.
Sage Creek boasts seven National Merit Scholars: Victor Li, Samantha Low, Hanh Nguyen, Lavanya Pandley, Ella Player, Isha Soni, and Eli Pregerson. Eli earned a National Merit Scholarship from Harvey Mudd. Three students were awarded National Merit Hispanic Recognition: Sebastian Griego,
Shea Hinojosa, and Mia Karvounis. Graduate Cavaughn Higgs received the Bobcat Spirit Award, embodying the SCHS vision that embraces academics, community service, leadership, school spirit, and a positive and inclusive attitude.
SCHS had 51 AP Scholars, 60 Project Lead the Way Scholars in the Biomed Pathway, and 28 Scholars in the Engineering Pathway. Sage Creek graduates are heading out to colleges and universities across the United States, from UCSD to Columbia. Madeline Connelly will be SCHS’s first student to attend Stanford.
As SCHS Principal Jesse Schuveiller said, “Seniors, we know that this has been a challenging spring, and the end of the year hasn’t turned out exactly the way that any of us planned. But we continue to be impressed by your resilience and the spirit and pride that you have shown throughout this uncertain time.”
We congratulate our graduates, and look forward to hearing about the great things they will accomplish.