For Agoura seniors, graduation is 'the beginning to the rest of my life'

The Agoura High School graduates, Class of 2011, were very reflective at their ceremony Friday night.

"Today is a stepping stone into bigger things, but I will always remember how everything influenced me here," said Valedictorian Dylan Reef, 18. "I'll be going to my dream school, UC Berkeley, and hopefully, I'll be double majoring in business and economics. I can't wait."

Valedictorian Alexander Tarashansky, 17, said: "Today is the culmination of all my efforts in high school. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling. I made a lot of friends and I'm sad to see them go, but I'm also moving on to bigger and better things. I'm going to USC, where they offered me a full scholarship and a research scholar position."

Natalie Ybanez just celebrated her 18th birthday last Monday.

"Everything all at once. It's overwhelming. I dreamed of this day, and it's finally here," said Ybanez, who plans on attending Arizona State University to study psychology.

"Today is a culmination of everything I've been working towards throughout my whole school career," said 17-year old Ethan Rieder. "It marks the end of one thing and the beginning to the rest of my life. It's almost surreal. I'm going to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for engineering and hopefully get into the business of renewable energy so I can help clean up the environment."

Valedictorian Lacey Leininger, 17, said: "I worked really hard for today. I'm very excited for college. I'm going to Brigham Young University to study chemical engineering."

Parent Susy Shapiro said, "This means so much to me. It's my second and last daughter graduating here at Agoura, and we're so excited and happy for Danielle. She will be going to Cal State Northridge in the fall to become a nutrition major."

Gayle Hooker, mother of twins, Houston and Kanan, had mixed emotions.

"It's an unbelievable feeling, especially when you have twins," Hooker said. "It's double the joy and yet bittersweet because it begins a new chapter in their lives, and I don't know if I'm ready for that chapter. But I know that they are. They are going to Dodge College Film School at Chapman University to pursue their film interests. They're very excited, and the best part of it for me is that they're only an hour and a half away from home."

Eighteen-year old Philip Chang, valedictorian, is going to Princeton next year to study engineering.

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"Today is pretty cool. I don't think it's all hit me yet, though, but it's pretty awesome," Chang said. "All the high school memories are rushing through my mind. I'm thinking about every class I've ever been in, a lot the friends I have that I may or may not see again, and all the teachers I've grown to love over the past few years."

Agoura High School

School District: Las Virgenes

Spring enrollment: 2,076

Number of graduates: 482

Principal: Larry Misel

Valedictorians: Hannah Adelsberg, Zachary Carango, Philip Chang, Bhargav Gopal, Brooke Hamilton, Alessandra Herbst de Cortina, Emma Krasovich, Rebecca Leff, Lacey Leininger, Jacqueline Ng, Dylan Reef, Alexander Tarashansky

Salutatorians: Aarushi Arenja, Jessica Brotman, Lindsay Chaney, Alexa Dobrowski, Callan Edwards, Nina Fisher, Kelsey Freedland, Katelyn Harp, Sophie Lasoff, Iana Meitlis, Grant Nishimura, Sarah Schimmel, Emily Tejeda, Steven Wilson

Past year highlights: State championship in track (hurdles); first International Baccalaureate graduates (17); the band was one of 15 schools to compete at Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center.