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A swarm of yellow descended upon the Greek Theater Friday when 700 Berkeley High School (BHS) graduates walked into its pit amidst a ceremony fit for kings. 

Seven thousand cheered them, and as strains of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 echoed through the bowels of the amphitheater, students realized that it was childhood’s end. 

“I am nervous because it’s over,” said Jenipher Washington, who will be starting school at Howard University this fall. “I am so used to going to school and meeting my friends everyday, I can’t believe that it’s going to end.” 

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” said 2007 graduate Mike Hunt, five minutes before he walked up to the stage. “It’s definitely a weight off my shoulders, but the fact that I am no longer in high school has yet to hit me.” 

For the Class of 2007, Friday meant goodbye to all things juvenile. It meant goodbye to senior streak, goodbye to junior prom and goodbye to setting off stink bombs in class. It also meant responsibility, the dawn of a new chapter. Hunt, like Washington, will be off to Howard University in Washington, D.C. in the fall. 

Others, such as Mateo Aceves—who represented students at the school board in his senior year—will be talking a year off before starting college. 

“I’ll be in Jerusalem and then it’s off to Brandeis University in 2008,” said Aceves. “I will miss school. I will miss being sober on Rally Day and our wonderful Barbecue Club. I urge my juniors to take advantage of every minute at Berkeley High because they will never get any of it back.” 

English teacher Susannah Bell told the Planet that every graduation was different. 

“It’s not just the entertainment that’s different every year,” she said. “Every class is different.” 

Bell and 23 other teachers were each responsible for lining up 36 of the graduates. 

“It’s very hot today, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said. 

“It’s right to the left,” teachers instructed graduates as they fiddled with their tassels minutes before the ceremony. Last minute make-up was applied, stray locks pinned up and the graduates were ready for their big day. 

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful school and a wonderful, wonderful student body,” said Joan Marie Lucera who had come out from Virginia to see her grand-daughter Camilia Padilla graduate. “I looked into the yearbook and there’s such a wonderful representation of people. Look around! I went to a private girls’ school in Canada, it wasn’t anything like this. This is typically American. This is exuberant. Such a demonstration of joy.” 

Berkeley Unified spokesperson Mark Coplan pointed out that Berkeley High was one of the few schools in the country which did not have valedictorians. 

“We have an unwritten rule which says that we don’t pick one student over the other,” he said. 

The school was recently ranked 284 out of 1,300 top U.S. schools by Newsweek magazine. “Last year we were 378, so it’s a huge improvement,” Coplan said. 

Earlier this month, BHS Vice Principal Pasquale Scuderi announced that the school had not met the benchmarks to receive an Annual Performance Index (API) score, prompting principal Jim Slemp to remark that the tests were not an accurate reflection of the school. 

“Students in my class performed really well in school this year,” said Academic Choice English teacher Alan Miller during the ceremony. “We have got students getting into the finest programs at some of the finest schools in the country. We are sending out students who care about the world. It shows the uniqueness of our school.” 

Academic Choice, one of the schools within BHS, offers students more choice for advanced placement classes. 

Friday’s commencement did not come without surprises. One student tried to lift Slemp up; another cut off his own hair. 

“I had wanted to make up my speech with some jokes ... but then I realized that this school meant more to us than a couple of one liners,” said Rowan Spencer, who snipped off a lock of his hair. “It has given us things such as brotherhood and friendship, and other things, such as strength, generosity, compassion and love. But let’s not forget the things Berkeley High has taken away from us, such as fear, hate, ignorance and intolerance.” 

Students of the English Learning Program described Berkeley High as a boon which had helped them survive in a foreign land. 

“We come from different countries but we become friends here,” said Sara Nazeer. Nazeer and her friends will be scattered all over the world after graduation. Some will go back to Pakistan, some to Africa and some will begin college right here in Berkeley. 

When the graduates took their final steps together as the class of 2007, student speaker Zoe Siegel reflected on the past year. 

“Some of us fought hard for our grades and others didn’t have to work as hard. Some worked hard to balance both work and fun,” she said. “But in the end we are all winners.” 

As Slemp shook the hand of the last graduate, African American Studies Chair Robert McKnight gave a parting word of advice. 

“I see you are anxious to move forward, to move onward to a greater quality of life,” he told the graduates. “But in order for your life to be better, you need to change. There cannot be a difference without change. You are yellow jackets and may you swarm all over the Planet buzzing, envisioning a better world.”.”