For the first time in its long history, Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park will have two valedictorians in a graduating class. Henry Gomez and Raymond Hernandez have tied for the honor this year, based on their grade point averages and the rigor of their coursework.
Mr. Gomez will attend UC, San Diego in the fall. Mr. Hernandez is off to Stanford.
Mr. Gomez and Mr. Hernandez are in the vanguard of 260 seniors from the Franklin Class of 2018, out of 302, who are college bound. Of them, 114 are going to community colleges, 102 to universities in the Cal State system, 26 to the University of California (including six to Berkeley and two to UCLA) and 18 to private four-year universities and colleges ( including two to USC in addition to Stanford.)
At Eagle Rock High School, the valedictorian of the Class of 2018 is Melanie Machorro, who will be attending Occidental College on a full, four-year scholarship. Ms. Machorro is one of 239 college-bound seniors from ERHS, out of 440. Of them, 75 are going to community colleges, 80 to universities in the Cal State system, 46 to the University of California (including 10 to Berkeley and one to UCLA) and 38 to private schools both in California and out-of-state (including one to USC and one to Princeton.)
Another 15 graduating seniors – 10 from Franklin and 5 from ERHS – are going into the military after graduation. Other post-graduation plans include working and taking some time off before going to college.
The Boulevard Sentinel also asked charter schools in Northeast Los Angeles about the college plans of graduates of the Class of 2018. Several of them had not compiled final data by press time and some did not respond. But Alliance Environmental Science and Technology High School in Glassell Park reported that 119 of 122 seniors would be attending college in the fall. Of them, 30 are going to community colleges, 60 to universities in the Cal State system, 17 to the University of California (including two to UCLA), and the rest to private and public colleges both in-state and out of state, (including one to Claremont and one to the City University of New York).
Renaissance Arts Academy, in Glassell Park, also had impressive results: Of 37 graduating seniors, 36 will be attending college in the fall. Of them, 11 will attend the University of California (including five to Berkeley and two to UCLA), 10 will attend universities in the Cal State system, six will attend private in-state schools (including one to USC), five will attend community colleges and four will attend private schools out-of-state (including one to the New School in New and one to Yale University.)
The Class of 2018 represents the future. And the future looks bright.
T.A. Hendrickson, a native of Eagle Rock, is the editor of the Boulevard Sentinel and a former member of the Editorial Board of the New York Times.
