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The Mt. Diablo Unified School District has begun celebrating the Class of 2023 at this year's High School and Alternative Education Graduation ceremonies!

 

Last week's events included:

College Now: 6 pm Tuesday, May 23, DVC 

College Park High: 7 pm Thursday, May 25, Concord Pavilion

Concord High: 7 pm Friday, May 26, Concord Pavilion

 

This week's graduation ceremonies include:

High Schools

Mt. Diablo High: 7 pm Wednesday, May 31, Concord Pavilion

Northgate High: 7 pm Tuesday, May 30, Concord Pavilion

Ygnacio Valley High: 7 pm Friday, June 2, Concord Pavilion

 

Alternative Education

Alliance: 6 pm Saturday, June 3, Concord Pavilion

Bridge: 6:30 pm Thursday, June 1, Loma Vista

Crossroads: 11 am Saturday, June 3, Concord Pavilion

Glenbrook Academy: 11 am Saturday, June 3, Concord Pavilion

Horizons Independent: 11 am Saturday, June 3, Concord Pavilion

Mt. Diablo Adult Ed.: 10:30 am Saturday, June 3, Loma Vista

Olympic High: 6:30 pm Saturday, June 3, Concord Pavilion 

Prospect High: 11 am Saturday, June 3, Concord Pavilion

 

More than two dozen seniors who completed MDUSD's College Now program at DVC pose for a group photo after their Class of 2023 Senior Celebration on May 23rd, when they received College Now Certificates and graduation stoles. They receive diplomas when they graduate with their home schools.

 

As graduation season gets underway in MDUSD, the College Now program at Diablo Valley College (DVC) kicked off the festivities with a Senior Celebration on May 23rd. The seniors, who came to the program from other District high schools, officially graduate and receive their diplomas along with their classmates from the schools where they took freshman and sophomore courses before entering the College Now dual enrollment program as juniors. Their celebration was followed up by College Park High School's commencement on Thursday and Concord High School's commencement on Friday.

This week is the last week of school for all MDUSD students, and is filled with back-to-back graduations, including Northgate HS at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 30th and Mt. Diablo HS at 7 p.m. Wednesday May 31st at the Concord Pavilion; the Bridge Program at 6:30 p.m. at the Loma Vista Adult Center; Ygnacio Valley HS at 7 p.m. Friday, June 2nd, the Adult Education program at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 3rd, Alternative Education programs at 11 a,.m. Saturday, June 3rd, and OIympic HS at 6:30 p.m. Saturday June 3rd at the Concord Pavilion. You can watch the Concord Pavilion live graduations and recordings on Concord TV here for all schools except for Northgate HS, which is available on Walnut Creek TV here.

The College Now program allows students to earn college credits through DVC while also taking high school courses on the college campus. This year's graduating class of approximately 30 seniors earned an average of 27 college units with an average GPA of 3.0, which means they completed the equivalent of more than one year of college. Students completed 176 college applications and received 115 college acceptances. Nine will continue their education at DVC, one has committed to attending an out-of-state community college, two will go onto vocational schools and one will join the military, said College Now Administrator Dr. Heather Fontanilla. She and other speakers commended the students for "taking the risk" to attend classes at DVC and challenge themselves outside their comfort zones.

 

MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark said the District's primary goal is to graduate students who are college and career ready. "This program is the culminating event of that mission," he said, adding that he always enjoys the College Now celebration because it is such a small, intimate community gathering that includes MDUSD and DVC officials, students, families and friends. He also praised the students for their senior project presentations, which he helped to observed last week. "It was top-notch," he said. "It was college level."  He urged the graduates to consider returning to the District to work after they complete their college educations - as teachers, counselors, principals or in other roles - just as others have helped them, in the spirit of giving back. 

Student speaker Norma Carrera, who wants to become a physician's assistant, said College Now has changed her life trajectory. "Our class is one-of-a-kind," she said, "and this program made me a different person in a positive way."

 

Click on the tweets below for highlights from graduation events that have occurred so far.