Toothy grins

Marisa O’Neil

Kristyn Yoshida and her family had an unforgettable graduation day.

Besides the caps, the gowns, the pomp and the circumstance, the

Orange Coast Middle College High School student got an early morning

visit with her dentist for a last-minute fix-up. The night before,

she fell and broke a front tooth right in half.

“It’s been quite a day,” her mother Deena Yoshida said. “Of all

the days, why today?”

Kristyn, new tooth and all, was one of 30 seniors to graduate from

the high school, which sits on the campus of Orange Coast College.

Because OCC’s semester already finished, the campus was quiet but for

the excited cheers inside the Robert B. Moore Theatre.

This was the sixth graduation for the school, which requires

students to take college courses at OCC in addition to their high

school curriculum.

When valedictorian Krysta Wingerter, 18, starts at UC San Diego

this fall, she will have already completed her freshman year, thanks

to the courses she took at OCC.

“I’ll definitely have a leg up on everybody else,” she said.

Dan Godwin, 17, plans to take aviation pilot training at OCC and

join the Air Force Reserve Officer Training program at Loyola

Marymount University. He received a scholarship from Orange County

Teachers Federal Credit Union.

“[This school] introduces you to college,” he said. “If I wasn’t

here, I’d screw up right off the bat in college.”

The senior slide show -- done on Power Point -- featured current

and baby photos of each student, as well as a quote. True to its

student body’s eclectic makeup, the quotes came from sources diverse

as Gandhi, Hunter S. Thompson and “Saturday Night Live” Deep Thoughts

man Jack Handey.

Kristyn, who has more artistic leanings according to her mother,

plans to attend Paul Mitchell the School to become a stylist. Henry

Weil, her boss from Mother’s Market, and a group of friends, showed

their support at the ceremony.

As she crossed the stage, her friends held up a sign declaring

“Vegan Pride.”

Another scholarship winner, 17-year-old Sean Coates, said the

early preparation will make things less scary when he returns to OCC

as a full-fledged college student in the fall.

“It’s a big step, but it shouldn’t be too different,” he said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.