Twenty four seniors hit the stage to claim their diplomas June 5 at the Mello Center in an upbeat commencement ceremony for New School Community Day School.
Last year marked the 30th anniversary of New School Community Day School.
Gang Intervention Specialist Albino Garcia and then Renaissance High School Principal Don Eggleston created the school in 1994 to help struggling students.
“It’s a small community, and they really want to help us succeed here,” said Ebony Salazar-Duran who had been at New School for the past seven months. “For me, Mr. Bermudez really stands out; he teaches math and he really helped me do well.” The Watsonville native said that after graduation she wants to save up enough money to travel. “Right now I am working and I want to save enough money for travel in the future. I want to go to Egypt.”
She said she transferred to the school from Pajaro Valley High.
“They met my needs here,” she said. “I’ve met some good people here. I just want to say that the staff here really wants to see their students do well; it worked for me.”
Graduate Marcos Estrada, born and brought up in Watsonville, said he was at first apprehensive about attending New School.
“I just wanted to leave at first, but I got involved in sports and that really helped me,” he said. “But little by little, I went from the person who didn’t know anything to fitting in. At first I didn’t know anything about basketball, soccer and football. But being humble and thankful to everybody and having an open mind really paid off. Everyone is different and everyone has something to offer and New School helped me to learn that being open and listening to everyone can help you learn. And now, today, I am graduating.”
