By all accounts, 2014 was an exceptional year \u2014 and an exceptional graduating class \u2014 at Mission Bay High School (MBHS).
\nThis year was also unique in that work on the high school\u2019s $13 million athletic complex forced the class of 2014 to hold its graduation ceremony off campus be-cause of unforseen circumstances on June 13.
\nIt\u2019s been a story of triumph and tribulation.
\nPerhaps then, it\u2019s appropriate, given the circumstances, that MBHS seniors will celebrate their final day at MBHS graduating at Clairemont High School.
\n“The 365-day timeline (athletic complex) wiped out the graduation we had been planning,” said principal Fred Hilgers, who helped broker a deal with Clairemont High to hold this year\u2019s graduation ceremony there.
\nHilger said no stone was left unturned by he and a committee with full parent and community participation to find a viable \u2014 and affordable \u2014 alternative graduation venue.
\n“We could have rented out Golden Hall and shared costs with other schools in the Community Concourse downtown,” he said, but he added that was unacceptable to many.
\n“We split on that,” said Hilgers. “We then began looking really outside the box at renting the bay and bringing in bleachers.” But Hilgers said costs for that were prohibitive, given the necessity of bringing in seating and a sound system.
\nUltimately, Hilgers said students, their families and staff chose to seek a site closer to home in Pacific Beach.
\n“At first, parents were not happy about doing it (graduation) at Clairemont High,” Hilgers said. “There really wasn\u2019t another viable, cost-effective choice.” “[The parents] finally came around on it,” he said, adding it helped that he had a good rapport with Clairemont High\u2019s principal, Dr. Jennifer Roberson.
\n“She said, \u2018Let me know if I can help,\u2019” said Hilgers.
\n“Dr. Roberson and her staff have been very accommodating, helping with logistics,” Hilgers said, adding it\u2019s a big relief to everyone that using Clairemont High for graduation worked out. “The kids are just happy to graduate,” said Hilgers, adding half-jokingly, “You could put them on the moon and they\u2019d be happy to have a spot.”
\nJerrilyn Goldberg, MBHS 2014 senior class president said the final decision to graduate at Clairemont High finally came down to “being practical about our choice.”
\n“Clairemont High School,” she said, “is a perfectly acceptable location for us considering it’s close enough to our school that we can easily transport decorations and students \u2026 the stadium seats significantly more people than our old bleachers so we can allow students to purchase as many tickets as they need. \u2026 This location will allow graduation to be a community celebration available to more who may want to attend.”
\nWith everything else, is it a coincidence then that the 2014 graduation ceremony is being held on Friday, June 13?
\nThat\u2019s a good \u2014 not a bad \u2014 omen, noted Hilgers, pointing out MBHS\u2019s Class of 2014 is one to overcome.
\n“Every year you say it\u2019s a great class, but what makes this class very unique is its collegiality and team approach,” said Hilgers. “This is truly an ensemble group. They really support each other. I can\u2019t but help but be struck by the lack of egos. They\u2019re really committed to each other.”
\nHilgers is confident the Class of \u201914 will go far.
\n“I\u2019m very proud of them,” he said. “Kids in this group are going to be making some significant differences on our lives.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By all accounts, 2014 was an exceptional year \u2014 and an exceptional graduating class \u2014 at Mission Bay High School (MBHS). This year was also unique in that work on the high school\u2019s $13 million athletic complex forced the class of 2014 to hold its graduation ceremony off campus be-cause of unforseen circumstances on June […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":274322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"MBHS graduates preparing for new horizons","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}