{"id":39108,"date":"2026-06-12T16:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T23:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/?p=39108"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T23:06:05","slug":"esperanza-high-school-celebrates-its-class-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/?p=39108","title":{"rendered":"Esperanza High School Celebrates its Class of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Thursday, June 11, Esperanza High School (EHS) celebrated the accomplishments of the Class of 2026 during its commencement ceremony at Nathan Shapell Memorial Stadium, where 384 seniors were awarded high school diplomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The graduating class distinguished itself through notable academic, artistic, athletic, and career-technical achievements. Approximately 89 percent of graduates plan to continue their education at two- or four-year colleges and universities. Throughout the year, Esperanza students earned recognition at the local, state, and national levels, including the EHS Jazz Ensemble’s participation in the prestigious Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City, where students received four individual awards. Additional accomplishments included a CIF Division 3AA Championship title for the cheer program, a CIF Southern Section Division 1 runner-up finish and CIF Northern Regional Championship for boys wrestling, a first-place finish at the State Leadership Conference by the school’s HOSA medical pathway students, and Grand Champion honors for the school’s award-winning show choir program. Senior Lucius Acker was also recognized as an Orange County Artist of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony was attended by distinguished guests, including Board of Education Trustees Todd Frazier and Leandra Blades, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kym LeBlanc-Esparza, Executive Director of Elementary Education Dr. Liz Leon, Executive Director of College and Career Readiness Dr. Will Gray, and Esperanza High School Principal Kelly Molina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduating seniors Morgan McCabe and Lilly Laitinen addressed their classmates and guests, sharing reflections on their experiences at Esperanza High School and offering encouragement for the future. Class Valedictorian Parham Asgari Targhi was also recognized for outstanding academic achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principal Molina delivered remarks celebrating the perseverance and accomplishments of the graduating class. Quoting Walt Disney, she stated, \u201cAll our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.\u201d She commended students for demonstrating that courage throughout their high school journey, both inside and outside the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the formal acceptance of the Class of 2026 by Trustee Todd Frazier and the presentation of diplomas, graduates participated in the traditional turning of the tassels from right to left. The ceremony concluded with a celebratory release of streamers, marking the end of the students’ high school experience and the beginning of their next chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations, EHS graduates!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/strong><\/a> to view Esperanza\u2019s ceremony on the district\u2019s YouTube Channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Thursday, June 11, Esperanza High School (EHS) celebrated the accomplishments of the Class of 2026 during its commencement ceremony at Nathan Shapell Memorial Stadium,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":39172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1177],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-39108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school","tag-esperanza-high-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39108"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39173,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39108\/revisions\/39173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}