by Ava Salado
Homeschooling takes a village, and on June 5th, 2021, our TVE village was very proud to present 11 extraordinary students graduating from their own respective grades. The future is bright for these young (not so much anymore) kids.
Let’s start by congratulating our students promoting up to middle school!
Olive Pate: Olive enjoys and is very talented at art, playing the piano, and making home videos with her little brother.
Noah Ruggreio: Noah loves to embroider and recently joined a mountain biking club where he rode all the way up and back down our very own Mt. Diablo.
Meru Sashikanth: Meru likes to compose music on her flute; she learned to use the app GarageBand to record a flute quartet of Carol of the Belles.
Cressida Brazier: Cressida is learning to play the drums and competing in acrobatics; she does think that middle school will be different than elementary school. When asked this, she states “Yes, at least that’s what my sisters keep telling me.”
Again, a huge congratulations to these elementary school graduates; you all did such a great job, we are all very proud of you!
Next, our middle school graduates on their way to the wonderful world of high school!
Elise Brazier: Elise dreamed of attending the high school Carondelet, so she set her mind to it, worked hard, and got in. She also enjoys competing in acrobatics.
Tobey Garcia: Tobey has a passion for reading, listening to music, and gaming with his closest friends. He also had a large growth spurt and is now the tallest member of his family, although being the youngest.
Congratulations to our new freshmen! We were so happy to share this milestone in your lives!
Now, we are excited to present our seniors getting ready to start the college journey!
Rowan Farrand: Rowan was supposed to graduate last year, but the festivities were postponed until this year. When asked what they are passionate about, they reply with “I’m really passionate about art and health.” They might want to pursue a career in art, and we are very excited to see what the future holds for them.
Lucas Garcia: Lucas would like to chase his lifelong passion for paleontology, and he is very happy to be going to DVC in the fall and has his first fossil dig in Montana this summer. We asked what he felt was his greatest accomplishment in his high school years, he said, “Finding out what interests I have, and again, meeting amazing people. ”It is going to be wonderful to see how this kid rocks the world (I couldn’t help it)!
Anna Hartz: Anna is enthusiastic to be attending DVC, where she can explore new interests in art and voice acting. She plans on deciding some further objectives she would like to pursue. A round of applause for this amazing young woman.
Blake Killion: Blake is getting ready to pursue his dream of filmmaking (which was inspired by the Mero brothers). He states, “I’m planning on going to Las Positas College to pursue an AA in film studies, that’s my plan. And then from there, maybe make an independent film studio or something like that.” This graduate is ready and willing to take his dreams to “infinity and beyond!”
Jake K. Siders: Jake will be going off to Berklee College of Music in Boston to pursue a Bachelor of Music in Film Scoring, which has been a dream of his for a while. With over 11 scores from both MMC and Homeschooled Films under his belt, his resume is quite impressive. When asked if Covid had made him more excited or nervous about transitioning to college, he said, “I’m feeling a little more excited because we have been locked inside for a year beforehand.” This young man is sure to score big in his future.
The hard work and dedication of these many students is so apparent, and we could not be more proud and grateful to the parents and families for helping teach and guide these wonderful human beings who will help the world in so many ways. Another thank you to all of the TVE leadership and volunteers for helping make this graduation so great for these amazing kids.
Many thanks to the following:
Senior Organizers Nicole Garcia and Rose Killion for all the lovely work you have put into TVE, Nicole Pate, the Host of this inspiring event,
Zoom Tech Jenni Norton for running the difficult technical webinar side of things,
Senior Tech Tim Salado for making sure this event went smoothly,
Sheri Salado and Ava Salado for photographing these wonderful moments,
and to the rest of the TVE leaders like Devona Brazier, Dana Skikos, Christina Sonas, and Jennifer Hull Smith.
And thank you to all loyal TVEers who attended our very first Zoom graduation, and sticking with us through these crazy times, our 8th annual Tri-Valley Explorers graduation was made possible by you.
In the words of a famous graduate, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” These kids showed us to take the time to celebrate the past, live and acknowledge the present and look forward to the future. So congratulations, best wishes, and applause to these students. We can not wait to see how you all make the world a better place.
The Lighthouse 