Cambria high schools celebrate Class of 2023 — and students’ ‘entrepreneurial spirit’

Nearly 40 North Coast students celebrated their commencement ceremonies in Cambria this week.

At Coast Union High School, 31 graduating seniors received their diplomas, honors and scholarships on Thursday.

On Wednesday, eight graduates celebrated the culmination of their work at Leffingwell High School.

Their educations were influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, although most restrictions had been lifted at the small San Luis Obispo County schools by the start of their senior year.

Coast Union High School grads head to Duke, Cal Poly

At Coast, grads Shanyra Cardenas and Caiden Kennedy shared co-valedictorian honors and a 4.15 grade point average, according to Samantha Brossette, school counselor for the Coast Unified School District.

Cardenas is heading to UC Davis and Kennedy is bound for Duke University, where he’ll study mechanical engineering.

“Thirteen-year-old me would hate to know that I’m admitting this: I loved high school,” Cardenas said. “ I loved all my classes except for biology ... but look at me now. I’m a bio major.”

“Recently, I came across a beautiful quote from a highly reputable source, TikTok,” Kennedy said.

“It’s all right not to possess all the answers just yet,” he quoted. “What is important is that we continue to strive.”

Robert Saunders’s 4.09 GPA propelled him to salutatorian honors and a place at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, where approximately 20% of recent Coast Union graduates will head next.

When Saunders looks at the Coast Union Class of 2023, he said, “I see architects, I see engineers, I see people that don’t know what they want to do, which is definitely me.”

In her welcoming speech, grad Ava Glennon compared her experience at Coast Union to baking.

“Nothing is ever perfect, and you never get the recipe right on the first try,” she said. “It is important to make mistakes, try new things, get creative, take risks and grab onto opportunities, because without those things, you would not be who you are. As we head into the future, remember, it’s OK not to follow the recipe.”

Six Coast Union seniors will attend other state universities, Brossette said, while four will go to private institutions, 14 will continue their educations at Cuesta College and one student will take a gap year in Europe before studying there.

About $160,000 in scholarships were given to 28 of the Coast Union grads, she added, including $32,000 from the Northern California Scholarship Foundation, a $20,000 Youth Legacy Award and many locally sponsored awards.

Patricia Acosta, the first in her family to attend a university, won a full-ride scholarship to Boston College, a private Jesuit research university, Brossette said.

Elizabeth Reed won the Northern California Scholarship Foundation Award and other honors for her accomplishments in agricultural and animal science studies and the National FFA Organization.

Kennedy, an all-sport athlete and this year’s ASB president, also amassed impressive scholarships and awards.

Leffingwell High School celebrates class of 2023

Leffingwell’s well-attended ceremony honored eight graduates, according to lead teacher Justin Gish.

The grads were Anders Axelson, Luis Esparza, Edwin Esparza, Christian Lopez Baez, Aidan Latham, Mariam Toma, Romeo Macias and Zaul Vasquez.

Leffingwell doesn’t select valedictorians or salutatorians.

“Zaul gave an excellent commencement speech touching on his appreciation of Leffingwell’s staff and environment,” Gish said. “As always it was an intimate affair with personalized remarks made about each of the graduates held on the lawn in front of the school. …”

“Collectively, the grads have an ambitious entrepreneurial spirit. Most of them have very clear, well-thought-out career plans,” Gish said. “This year they received $12,170 in scholarships.”