After building a 50-foot Viking ship on their school’s courtyard, La Jolla High School’s class of 2007 is preparing to sail off into the future.
The senior prank, which also included a large mural of a Viking ship in rough waters painted on the side of the school, has brought the 357-student class together as graduation day quickly approaches, according to Catherine Lew, this year’s valedictorian.
“Pretty much everyone in the senior class was involved,” Lew said of the ship’s construction, which kept students busy throughout the evening and into the early morning hours of June 10 and 11. “It’s great that we’ve been able to unify “” it’s really a testament to the class of 2007 that we were able to do something to leave people with a good impression of La Jolla High School.”
The ship will remain on display until the school’s commencement activities at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, at Edwards Stadium, and Principal Dana Shelburne couldn’t be more pleased.
Shelburne’s son, also a senior at the school, was involved in creating the ship. The principal knew students were cooking something up for the last week of school “” any unapproved addition to the campus is thought of as vandalism, so students gave administration a brief outline of their plans ” but the final outcome came as a pleasant surprise, Shelburne said.
“They have not only excelled academically and athletically, but they have also changed the tenor of what historically has been called a senior prank,” Shelburne said. “They have taken that notion from a negative, vandalism-ridden place and put it in a very positive light. Their school spirit is second to none, and they have set the bar pretty high for classes who follow.”
Shelburne said he hopes La Jolla High School’s future seniors will follow the lead of this year’s class and use their creativity to think up a prank that will benefit the school and students for years to come.
Lew, who has plans to attend Yale University in the fall, said she sees the prank as indicative that her class will leave lasting impressions “” not just at the school but in every other endeavor they embark upon in the future.
The 17-year-old native La Jollan knows her fellow classmates will be well-prepared and successful in the future because of the knowledge they have acquired at LJHS, she said. In her graduation speech, she plans to remind the young adults that if they put their mind to it, they can achieve anything.
“People have the capacity to create change right now,” Lew said. “A lot of the time people underestimate my generation and think we are kind of apathetic and tune people out “” that we only care about our cell phones and iPods. But I really want to emphasize that we are a great class and we can do great things.”
Lew plans to study international relations and history at the Ivy League school. The class salutatorians, David Carry and Dasha Wise, will also be speaking at the ceremony, joined by senior Rachel Nigbor as guest speaker.
Nigbor, 18, grew up in La Jolla and views her time spent at La Jolla High School as a major journey that is now coming to a close.
Although she is full of excitement about what her future holds “” Nigbor will attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall “” she said that sadness has been the overall feeling of her class and that it will be hard to leave La Jolla and all the memories it holds.
“Even when I’m 30, I’ll still remember these last few weeks,” she said.
University City High School will also hold its graduation ceremony at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, at UCHS’s stadium, followed by Grad Night at the school’s gym from 8 p.m. through 6 a.m. Wednesday, June 20. Calls for information were not returned by press time.
University City High School is located at 6949 Genesee Ave. For more information, contact University City High School, (858) 457-3040, or visit www.uchs.sandi.net.
For more information about La Jolla High School’s graduation, held at 750 Nautilus St., contact the school, (858) 454-3081, or visit www.ljhs.sandi.net.