The Class of 2000

Danette Goulet

* EDITOR’S NOTE: As they complete the first half of their senior year, we

thought it was time to catch up with the entire Class of 2000, the group

of Newport Harbor High students we have followed since their freshman

year.

For three years, the community has watched the progress of a handful of

Newport Harbor High students in the Class of 2000.

They’ve now embarked on their final year of high school. Where are they?

Where are they headed? What are they doing during this final year in the

nest?

As a freshman, Cameron Sinclair was a veritable fish. He spent most of

his free time in the water, whether it was swimming, surfing or water

polo. That fish has since sprouted legs and become a grease monkey,

spending much of his free time these days working on his 1984 Bronco.

Cameron is working at Blockbuster Video to support his Bronco tinkering

habit, but still finds time to head for the hills each weekend to go

off-roading.

“I’m trying to start an off-roading club here at Newport Harbor, but

there’s a bunch of things liability-wise that might get in the way,” he

said.

Some things haven’t changed in Cameron’s life, like his interest in

computers. Cameron plans to attend Mammoth Cero Cosa Community College

next year, where he will study computer technology with plans to go into

computer administration or networking.

Then there’s Matt Glover, who at 15 years old can be heard from a mile

away as he races around on his motorcycle. To know what Matt is up to,

one needs to bypass the source himself.

“I applied to Yale, Princeton, Harvard and Stanford,” Matt said. “But I’m

really interested in going to Princeton.”

However, if there’s one dimple winking out at you from the corner of

Matt’s smile, take what he’s telling you with a grain of salt, said his

mother, Kathi Glover.

Matt has applied to Southern Methodist University, Loyola Marymount

University, Colorado State Boulder, and Pepperdine University, Kathi

Glover said.

The essay Matt claims to have written for his college applications may be

credible. It is an account, he said, of a job he held for one week for a

company that inspected luggage.

“I hated it,” he said. “It was the worst thing I ever did.”

Unlike her classmates, Alison Arnold has veered very little from the

course she had planned as a freshman at Newport Harbor.

Alison’s first love remains steadfast -- horses. She has continued to

show horses over the years and is in the process of buying a new one.

Though she claims she applied to certain schools because of their lack of

essay requirements, the reality is they all have equestrian teams.

She clutched the brochure of her newest find, Baylor University, as she

listed her other options: Texas A&M;, Cal Poly Pomona, Mills College and

Humboldt State.

Another facet of Alison’s life that has seen little change are her career

goals. Three years ago, she wanted to be a sixth-grade teacher. Now she

plans to be a special education or elementary school teacher.

In the spring of 1997, the community was also introduced to a girl named

Nikko Gallardo. Nikko said she wasn’t into anything, but spent most of

her free time helping others.

She has now come up with a way to harness that desire to help: She plans

to be a lawyer.

“I want to be an environmental or business lawyer,” Nikko said. “I don’t

want to do criminal. I don’t want any cases I can’t handle and I want no

one stalking me.”

She discovered her desire to be an attorney when she went to court for

her American democracy classes.

Although she knows it will take a lot of schooling, she said she thinks

she’ll be a good lawyer.

Her school of choice is Howard University, but she is also applying to

Boston College, the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Cal

State Long Beach.

Milan Rousset’s love of the ocean, which led him to water polo,

bodysurfing and fishing, have in the last few years landed him on the

crew team at Newport Harbor.

His talk of being a marine biologist, however, has been set aside for a

new global plan. His first two years he will spend at OCC. Then it’s off

to the East Coast -- Boston or New York.

Since he plans to eventually settle back in California, Milan said he

would like to experience the other coast first, just to be sure.

Then our jet-setting friend plans to spend a few years in England, where

he has a friend who has promised him a job.

The plan is to eventually land back in sunny California, as a diverse

international businessman.

Milan has already started to dabble in the world of enterprise with a

classmate. Last summer, they began making and selling T-shirts with an

original logo on them. They are now branching out into sweatshirts for

the winter.

Milan is not alone in his drastic change in career plans.

Diana Girgis, the quiet student who originally hails from Egypt, once had

plans to be a physician.

Those humanitarian plans have been set aside in favor of technology.

Diana plans to apply to Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton and the

Devry Institute for computer science.

“I want to see how computers are put together and learn computer

programming,” she said.

In her spare time, Diana continues to spend time with her friends from

Archangel Michael Church in Santa Ana and is taking extra classes to fill

her spare time.

Although we did not know him as a freshman at Newport Harbor, late

addition Sean Rorden has been busy enough to make up for lost time. Being

one of Newport Harbor’s starting basketball players keeps him very busy,

but Sean has still found time to take up coaching basketball at the Boys

Club.

With plans to apply to UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly

San Luis Obispo, Sean said the first semester of senior year has been

rather stressful.

“You’ve got to get good grades and keep them -- that’s whatcolleges look

at,” he said.

In his effort to make his applications as impressive as possible, Sean

held nothing back on his essay. His personal statement tells them of his

personal struggle dealing with his father’s cancer last year. With the

cancer now gone, Sean said he is able to deal with it.

During our walk through the life of a high school student who would step

out into the world in a new century, a few have fallen through the

cracks.

Kristin Marie Sitzer has left Newport Harbor and transferred to Corona

del Mar High School. She was unable to be reached for this update.

Zach Gelbaum still attends Newport Harbor, his classmates said, but is

likewise elusive.