Time well spent

Young Chang

The shoe of choice was black flip-flops.

Not with 5-inch rubber heals, not with little daisies everywhere, but

the kind you might wear while washing the car on a weekend afternoon.

They peeked out from below flowing green robes and far outnumbered the

wooden clogs, baby blue platforms, florescent red sneakers and

conservative black loafers worn on this once-in-a-lifetime night.

The wearers of these shoes were milling about in what was Orange Coast

College’s backstage area for Costa Mesa High School’s graduation Thursday

evening in the college’s LeBard Stadium. Like their shoes, the seniors

oozed personality in other places where the robes allowed for small

touches of fun.

Some wore medals dotted with World Series pins, Olympics brooches and

other nonacademic symbols in hopes that parents sitting far away would

think they were graduating with some great honor. Others did spontaneous

little dances, blurring the straight lines everyone was supposed to stand

in.

Michael Gardiner, a valedictory scholar, stepped out of line to

practice the Bezerker Walk from the movie “Clerks” with friends who are

also fans of the flick. When asked if he was planning to walk into the

stadium like that, Gardiner suddenly became modest.

“Probably not, because I haven’t perfected it,” the 18-year-old said.

In the stands, parents and friends holding flowers waited. So did

honored guests from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of

Education, including Dana Black, David Brooks, Jim Ferryman, Martha Fluor

and Judy Franco, as well as Assistant Supt. of Secondary Education Jaime

Castellanos. The Costa Mesa High School band watched for its cue to start

playing “Pomp and Circumstance,” which some graduating seniors would

later use to cartwheel their way onto the field or walk arm in arm.

The school’s Madrigal Choir also waited on the freshly mowed greens.

Their big number would be the national anthem, which would later send a

collective chill through the crowd.

Up in the fenced-off waiting area, emotions were having a ripple

effect.

“I am just so sad,” said Kevin Alexander, meaning to be dramatic. “I

love high school so much because it’s so easy.”

The 17-year-old continued lamenting about entering the real world,

about becoming an adult.

Just seconds before the first line of 229 to-be-graduates would walk

to the field, Kevin’s friend Gardiner mused that he was also sad, but in

a nostalgic way.

“I feel like that’s what this ceremony will be like,” he said. “A

celebration of the time we’ve spent here.”