Local private schools honor Class of 2020 in various ways

La Jolla private schools chose different ways to bid farewell to members of the Class of 2020.

La Jolla Country Day School

More than 120 graduates of La Jolla Country Day School were honored during the 56th commencement ceremony June 5, which due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements was held
drive-in-style in a parking lot outside Petco Park in downtown San Diego.

Graduates walked across a stage to receive their diplomas while family members watched from their cars. The event also was livestreamed for people who couldn’t be there in person.

La Jolla resident Danielle Amir-Lobel received the Trustees’ Award for achieving the highest cumulative grade-point average in the senior class. Cassidy Wechter and Wendy Yang, both of Carmel Valley, received the Head of School Award for achieving the second-highest cumulative GPA.

Members of the LJCDS graduating class are set to continue their education at 70 different colleges and universities, according to the school, which serves students from age 3 to 12th grade.

The Bishop’s School

The 128 members of The Bishop’s School’s Class of 2020 arrived on campus individually during 10-minute time slots over four days — June 5, 8, 9 and 10 — for their own graduation ceremonies.

Head of School Ron Kim awarded a diploma to each graduate, with family members on hand to celebrate. Students received their caps and gowns upon arrival and proceeded to the stage.

Kim wrote that the students had chosen “a path that demanded hard work, commitment and sacrifice, and we honor all that you have done that brought you to this day. ... The identity of the school has been shaped and re-created by what you have done, by the relationships that you formed and by the legacy that you leave behind. We wish for you a life of courage, confidence and hope.”

Seniors receiving commencement awards included five Head of School Award winners: Courtney Anderson, Sarahi Castillo, Sydney Gerlach, Kellen Hobson and Tommy Sottosanti.

Courtney Anderson was one of five graduating seniors at The Bishop’s School receiving Head of School Awards.

(Courtesy)

Tim Kelly was awarded the Bishop’s Medal, Eliana Petreikis the Michael Teitelman Loyalty Cup and Tobey Shim the Harvard Cup.

Bishop’s is an Episcopal school that serves students in sixth through 12th grades.

The Children’s School

The Children’s School presented Harvard University student Amanda Gorman, the first youth poet laureate in the United States, for an address to eighth-grade students moving on to high school.

During the event, held June 11 via Zoom, Gorman read three of her poems: “The Miracle of Morning,” about making it through the COVID-19 crisis; “In this Place (An American Lyric),” which she wrote to read at the Library of Congress; and “The New World,” a celebration of those
graduating in the time of social distancing.

Youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman shares her poems with eighth-graders at The Children’s School in La Jolla during a June 11 online address.

(Courtesy)

Afterward, she took questions from the students and their parents and shared advice for budding writers, including to read and write as much as possible, keep all your work and read everything three times — one for fun and pleasure, one to determine what you can learn from the writing and one to determine how you could make the work better.

The Children’s School serves toddlers through eighth-graders. ◆