Graduating Eagles take flight

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- If her knees were shaking under her crimson graduation

gown Thursday afternoon, you couldn’t tell. Nonetheless, Estancia High

School graduate Trang Do described her pre-graduation sentiment in one

word: nervous.

“I’m going to cry,” Do said, just minutes before walking into LeBard

Stadium at Orange Coast College to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

“I just know I am going to cry.”

She huddled with close friends as they waited for their cue, rattling

off the various emotions they were feeling.

Cool. Nervous. Freaked out. Afraid.

“I’m going to--,” Do started to say, but her sentence was cut short by

an administrator calling for the A group to line up.

“Here we go,” she said.

A succession of about 200 crimson-clad grads filed into the crowded

stadium while being greeted with cheers, whistles and the occasional

holler of audience members.

Hundreds of proud faces in the stands scanned the class of 2002,

looking for their special honoree. Likewise, the students’ gazes were

cast upward, searching for their personal cheering section, waving when

they recognized a familiar face.

When the music began to fade, the graduates were seated and the

official commencement began. Principal Tom Antal welcomed the crowd and

then turned the ceremony over to those being recognized -- the students.

Mike Phan, senior class president, reminisced on his high school

years, recounting “good times” roaming the halls with friends and

attending school dances. He also paid tribute to the various teachers,

parents, mentors and administrators who paved the road of success for the

class of 2002.

“Their deeds can never be repaid but will always be cherished,” Phan

said.

While student speakers highlighted the good times at Estancia, they

also remembered those moments that tested the strength and character of

their senior class. The student body president, Diane Alderete, noted the

leadership her class exhibited in the trying days after Sept. 11. only to

be hit with the sudden death of classmate Matthew Colby just weeks later.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alderete said, explaining how she felt

after the two sudden blows. “Is this my senior year or someone’s idea of

a bad movie?”

It is the trying times that strengthen graduates, and adult life holds

more of those in the coming years, said Newport-Mesa Unified School

District trustee Dave Brooks.

“The skills you’ve learned at Estancia High are the basis of your

future,” Brooks said. “How you take them and use them as adults will

determine your success.”