More than 1,000 seniors graduate from the district More than 1,000 seniors graduate from the district (June 17, 2005)

Village principal also 'graduates' with Class of 2005

A total of 1,037 students graduated from Pleasanton's four high schools this past week, making this year the first that more than a 1,000 students graduated from the district. Foothill had the most graduates with 493, followed closely by Amador with 474. Village had 61 graduates and Horizon had nine.

Village principal Diane Howell is another graduate of sorts. She became principal of Village four years ago with the Class of 2005 and now will be leaving with them as well to take a position as the district's director of high school curriculum. She has worked as an educator for 30 years and previously taught at both Amador and Foothill before moving to Village.

"It's all about getting the kids graduated and leading successful lives," Howell said. "Graduation is very meaningful and each one is very special."

Foothill and Amador were scheduled to hold their graduation ceremonies at the Fairgrounds yesterday with Amador going first at 2 p.m. and Foothill at 6 p.m. Both schools had multiple valedictorians and salutatorians. Alexandra Dunworth and Lavanya Wusirika shared the role of valedictorian for Amador and Tiffany Chen, Brittany Lee and Joyce Lee shared it for Foothill. Jerry Henke, Christine Anastasiou, Melinda Tangney, and Sijie Mao of Amador and Maria Bo, Scott Crawford, Michelle Kim, Cindy Lee and Stephaie Li of Foothill shared the honor of salutatorian.

Village and Horizon held their graduation ceremonies Tuesday, June 14. Village held a more intimate ceremony in the Amador Theater and Horizon held its graduation in the district office. Instead of choosing valedictorians, Village chooses five student speakers based on teacher consensus and an interview process.

Even though her students may be moving on and out of Pleasanton, Howell will still be close to Village as the district office is adjacent to the campus.

"I'm going to miss the day-to-day contact with these wonderful kids," Howell said. "But I'll be close enough that I'm going to have to walk over from office every once and a while to get a fix." -Rebecca Guyon

E-mail a friend a link to this story.