Security was tighter than usual at the Redondo Union High School graduation last Friday afternoon because of two very special guests. Bill and Hillary Clinton, the former President and current Secretary of State, attended the event to celebrate their nephew’s graduation. The president also made a special appearance as the commencement’s guest speaker and afterwards the pair attended a meet-and-greet fundraiser for the Redondo Beach Education Foundation at Parras Middle School that raised over $50,000 for school programming.
“I’m sure none of us will forget this special day,” RUHS principal Nicole Wesley said during the ceremony.
For RBUSD Superintendent Steven Keller, the significance he hopes the students and community took home from Clinton’s speech was the president’s emphasis on teamwork.
“Everywhere in America where things are going well, different kinds of people are working together,” Clinton said. “You live in a world where what works is teamwork… the people that are working together are doing better. You live in a world where all the walls are getting torn down, you live in a world where you can get on the internet and in thirty seconds learn things I had to go to college to learn. A student once told me, ‘We may not be spending as much time studying as our parents because we can find things faster,’ and it’s true. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to use it to pick fights or build bridges?”
“I think that’s a message for all of us,” said Keller. “It’s a tough time and we all have to wiggle a little to embrace one another.
The stands at Sea Hawk Bowl were packed full as families listened to the speaker and celebrated the graduation of over 500 Redondo Beach students. Community members even stood listening to the president’s speech from behind fences and perched on trees and hills outside the stadium. Friends and family could be seen straining for a glimpse of the couple who sat on the bottom right corner of the south facing stands.
“I thought it was a profound day having both the president and secretary of state in attendance, not to mention our fabulous graduates,” Keller said.
[scrollGallery id=”407″]The president also commented on the country’s economic problems, but reminded the graduates that it’s a good time to be young. “The great thing about being alive and young today is that a higher percentage of people than ever before actually get to decided what they do for a living. Most people that have ever lived and half the people alive today on earth have no choice about what they do in their life, they just work at whatever’s at hand to feed themselves and help them raise children. You have those choices, you need to make them and make them the way that’s best for you. The more you know, the more choices you have the freer you will be and the stronger the economic future will be.”
Valedictorian Charlotte Kim, who graduated with a 4.8 GPA, and Salutatorian Dylan Scarcliff were honored and the class of 1962 stood to acknowledge their 50 year reunion. Diplomas were handed out to the crowd of white and red and the tassel turning ceremony was observed. Finally hats were thrown into the air after the field was filled with excited students and the class observed their final act together and made a unity circle.
“This is the beginning today, keep building on it,” said Clinton. “Make it a commencement, a beginning, not a graduation, an end.” ER
