Mission Bay High School Class of 2018 valedictorian Ciara Gray and salutatorian Luke Loomis shared their hopes \u2013 and fears \u2013 entering a broader world of sweeping change.
\nThe pair of graduates, who\u2019ve known each other since karate class in third grade, said they had mixed feelings about leaving MBHS.
\n“There\u2019s a certain amount of anxiety about going off and living on your own,” said Loomis, who\u2019s attending UC San Diego in the fall and majoring in human biology. “At the same time there\u2019s an element of excitement because we\u2019re going to be able to have our freedom and the ability to make our own lives.”
\n“For most of the year, most of high school, I couldn\u2019t wait for graduation and was looking forward to college,” said Gray, who will attend UC Santa Barbara as a math major. Gray, who\u2019s grown up around marine science and had an internship with NOAA Southwest Fisheries, added, “There\u2019s a lot of ways I could go” with a math-oriented career.
\n“It\u2019s something that\u2019s very much a part of me, science, biology,” said Loomis. “If that leads me to med or law school, or to whatever post-bachelor degree schooling I decide I want to do \u2013 I\u2019ll see what happens.”
\nThough she characterized herself as “pessimistic,” Gray said she nonetheless is optimistic about her career future. “People have told me the job you\u2019ll have in the future may not even exist yet,” she said.
\nAsked what they saw as good and bad heading out into the world, Loomis answered, “Technology.”\u00a0
\nGray concurred, noting she loves being able to Google how-to questions, while avoiding “being sucked into technology. The convenience is nice, but it\u2019s scary how much [technology] has infiltrated our lives.”
\nWhat of their fears?
\nSaid Loomis, “One thing I\u2019ve always been scared of is political dichotomy, one way or another, with or against \u2026 I very much like to have options in my political views.”
\n“I\u2019m also very politically ambiguous,” said Gray. “I have friends who are so politically one way or another that I can\u2019t even debate with them because they believe so strongly. Everything is so extreme nowadays.”
\nWhat of global warming?
\n“We\u2019ve passed the point of no return,” said Gray. “There are things we can do to reconcile what we\u2019ve done, but we\u2019re never going to get it back to as good as we\u2019ve had it.
\n“By 2050, there\u2019s going to be more plastic than biomass in the ocean, and that is insane to me growing up surfing in the ocean,” she added.
\n“It is very concerning being raised on the beaches,” agreed Loomis of climate change. “Our school has done a good job of educating us about having a global mindset when it comes to how we act, about water conservation, etc.”
\nConcerning their graduation speeches, both Loomis and Gray were working on theirs.\u00a0
\nLoomis planned to give a shout out to parents for the roles they play in shaping their children\u2019s lives.
\nGray was still kicking around ideas, not wanting to deliver a “typically overdone speech” about leaving for college.
\nWhat advice would they give to future Buccaneers?
\n“Get involved in things, clubs, sports, early,” said Loomis. “Our school has so much to offer.”
\n“Don\u2019t [just] focus on the grades.” said Gray. “Teach yourself to find a way to get yourself interested in the material.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mission Bay High School Class of 2018 valedictorian Ciara Gray and salutatorian Luke Loomis shared their hopes \u2013 and fears \u2013 entering a broader world of sweeping change. The pair of graduates, who\u2019ve known each other since karate class in third grade, said they had mixed feelings about leaving MBHS. “There\u2019s a certain amount of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":274328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Mission Bay valedictorian and salutatorian ready for next-level opportunities","_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-274327","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\/274327","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=274327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}