After a winter that included an atmospheric river natural disaster, Los Gatos High School’s Class of 2023 was dispatched into the wider world in a June 9 ceremony held outdoors in pleasant conditions.
The event, broadcast live on public access station KCAT, gave student speakers the chance to reflect on their academic journey and fire peers up for the days ahead.
In his address, Omid Akhbari said students had been forced to overcome plenty of obstacles in the pursuit of greatness.
“We stand here at a high school noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, and in a state noted for strength,” he said. “The class of ’23 and the seniors before us have dealt with various challenges through our four years of being a Wildcat. These challenges include Covid, global warming, senioritis and facial acne. And despite all these obstacles, we still managed to graduate.”
Akhbari said it’s now time for the grads to find their passions and leave a legacy.
“Throughout my four years as a Wildcat, I’ve learned a lot, including that in life, you cannot have an easy path to greatness,” he said. “The opportunity to achieve greatness is within everyone’s grasp.”
After all, he continued, world leaders were once regular students, too.
“Class of 2023, today you will shake Mr. Buchanan’s hand,” he said, referring to principal Kevin Buchanan. “And many of you will post on your Instagram, with a caption from a Drake song. But it is important to recognize that you will set sail on this new sea—which is your adult lives—because there is new knowledge to be gained, new rights to be won.”
The sense of optimism in the crowd on the lawn was at its highest level.
“Many of you will become scientists, politicians, doctors and those who are brave enough will fight for their country,” he said. “What you do today will affect the lives of millions. And it is up to you to decide if this new ocean will be a sea of peace.”
Manav Thakkar, the next speaker, pointed out grads had—for the most part—been in school for 13 years.
“That’s roughly 3,368,600 minutes—roughly,” he said. “Yet, we spent so much of that time focusing on the idea of ‘one more minute.’ One more minute outside on the playground during recess; one more minute till AP tests are over. And we are finally free.”
In his speech, Thakkar admitted that he’d entered high school with a sense of dread hanging over his head.
“Just as I figured it all out came sophomore year and Covid,” he said. “Time became a blur. We all went through our own unique hardships. We all had our own worries. And we were all forced to adapt extremely quickly.”
When they were called back to the classroom Thakkar found everyone had changed.
“Some of us had grown up,” he said. “And some of us had beards.”
This elicited chuckling from the audience.
“But then we were juniors and were embarking on the hardest year of our academic lives,” he said. “We were all stressed about SATs, PSATs, college applications, and the dawning realization that we’ve been forced into an intense competition with our peers.”
Nevertheless, the Class of 2023 continued to present a united front, according to Thakkar.
“This sense of community has not changed,” he said. “In the blink of an eye, four years turned to three, to two, to one, to one semester left..to one class, to one more minute…One more minute of high school and we are done. That is, if I ever stop talking anytime soon.”
He left the crowd with the wise words of Master Oogway from “Kung Fu Panda.”
“Yesterday was history; tomorrow is a mystery; but today is a gift,” he said. “That is why it’s called the present…remember to cherish every moment. Thank you.”
