Live Oak High School sent 276 graduates across the stage on a bright afternoon June 5, capping four years of academic achievement with a commencement ceremony held in the school’s football stadium.
The ceremony began at 2pm and featured remarks from school and district administrators, student leaders and two co-valedictorians, all of whom urged graduates to lean on relationships, embrace uncertainty and give back to the communities that supported them.
Principal Veronica Diaz opened the ceremony by invoking the proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” reminding graduates that their accomplishment belonged not just to them but to the parents, teachers, coaches and friends who supported them along the way.
“Success is not only what you achieve, but also how you impact others,” Diaz said. “Carry forward the values your village gave you: kindness, perseverance, integrity and compassion.”
Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Carmen Garcia noted that Live Oak was named the 2026 YMCA Project Cornerstone Caring High School for Santa Clara County, a recognition she credited to the character of the student body.
“Your diverse individual strengths merged into an exceptional, one-of-a-kind class identity,” Garcia told graduates.
Garcia also challenged the Class of 2026 to take an active role in shaping the future, telling students that the problems facing their generation would require them to challenge conventional thinking and create space for voices different from their own.
“Progress doesn’t happen because people wait for change,” co-valedictorian Tyler Lang echoed in his address. “It happens because people choose to create it.”
Lang shares the valedictorian honor with classmate Ashlyn Ingraham, both carrying a GPA of 4.75. His speech drew laughs when he acknowledged a lifelong habit of procrastination, noting he had completed his speech just the day before, but he turned the theme into a sincere message, urging classmates not to let the pursuit of success crowd out the relationships that make achievements meaningful.
“Go hang out with your friends,” Lang said. “The moments in life that kept you from being on time are sometimes the most meaningful.”
Ingraham’s address was equally personal, crediting a piece of advice from her father to “simply have fun” with helping her keep perspective through the pressures of high school.
“When we look back on these four years, we’re not going to remember the deadlines or the stress,” she said. “We’re going to remember the moments that made it all worth it.”
ASB President Amelya Forbis and Senior Class President Emma Hagopian delivered a joint farewell address, reflecting on the identity-shaping nature of high school and urging classmates to stop measuring their worth by numbers, be they GPAs, bank balances or social media follower counts.
“These numbers do not define us,” Forbis urged the graduates. “They are not predictions of who we will become or a measure of our worth. Today, our number is one. Today is day one—the first day we’re on our own.”
Before the presentation of diplomas, Diaz paused the ceremony to honor Angel Cardenas Medina, a member of the Class of 2026 who died May 3 in a car accident. An empty space in the rows of graduates was reserved in his memory, and his family was invited to the stage to receive his diploma on his behalf.
“His journey with us was cut far too short, but his influence on this graduating class is undeniable,” Diaz said.
Members of the graduating class will go on to attend colleges and universities including UCLA, UC San Diego, Cal Poly, Santa Clara University, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Oregon and the University of the Pacific, among other schools.
