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I [snorts] hope when all of you look back that you remember this. Because who you are right now in this exact moment is more than enough. Thank you and congratulations class of 2026. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Andres. Please welcome our second senior class speaker Helen Theron. Thank you Anthony and Sophia. Good evening faculty, loved ones, teachers, and the incredible class of 2026. My name is Helen Theron and it is really an honor to stand before you today as I look out at this community. I hope that this moment stays with me forever. It brings me joy to have students sitting with red caps and gowns because every behind every seat is a story of share late nights, early mornings, challenges, growth, and perseverance. Today is just not the end of a very long journey, but the beginning of a lifetime.
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It truly is so hard to believe how fast our four years here have gone. We've always heard, "High school flies by so fast." And now, as we're here today, about to flip our tassels, we realize just how true that is. Our journey, though, is different from any other. We experienced challenges entering high school that no other class has had to face. No, we are not labeled as the COVID class, but we lived through it in our own way. In sixth and seventh grade, we spent hours learning through our screens. In eighth grade, we returned to a sense of normalcy. But it was different. We hid behind masks and stepped onto campus both excited, yet unsure on how to reconnect. And then came ninth grade. Not only were we just starting our very first year of high school, but we were also still adjusting to a completely changed world.
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And I remember seeing her her freshman year at the high school as a cheerleader and thinking, "Oh, yeah, that's perfect, too." So, I'm going to give you a little bit about Jill. for the past five years starting in eighth grade she has served on ASB and she's currently the line president and she has been a cheerleader and competitive dance stunt team. She's still standing which is a huge thing because stunt is hard. She helped coach Littles on the seinal cheer um team. She designed and made powderpuff jerseys for the juniors and seniors and then the seniors won. No, you didn't. I thought you told us you won. >> Okay. >> I didn't know anything because that's embarrassing. >> Oh, that's why I got you to tell us. Okay. >> You did. Yeah. Skipped it. Okay. But now we all know, right? >> She I'm sorry.
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So, a little bit about Amber in case you don't already know, but I understand that she transitioned her senior year to a new school. Sounds like she jumped right in and got involved with soccer and really took in some leadership opportunities. But what resonated with us in her letter was she intends to be a nurse and so um people helping people. Um and she hopes to be attending I believe Grand Canyon University away from home I think. Yeah. Okay. Um so we are uh proud to present this scholarship to her as she continues um people helping people. Hello everyone. My name is Vicki Lorenzo and I'm presenting on behalf of the Payne family for a Valerie Payne memorial scholarship. Valerie Payne graduated in 1969 from Chico State University with a BA in fine arts. She continued her education and obtained her teaching credential and worked for Chico Unified as a fine arts specialist for 10 years.
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So, they they're very active with their council meeting together. So. I thought that was interesting. This portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and/or directly related to the operations of the Clifton Public School District. Residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register form provided for the purpose and to state their name, addresses, and subject matter. Comments are limited to 5 minutes per person. Issues raised by the members of the public may or may not um be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board.
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So we've done great things together. Absolutely. Yeah. And I just want to make a note to all the children who entered because we had about 40 kids who entered and only 10 of those won. But we saw an enormous amount of talent. So we are incredibly proud to see all of the work that we received and are looking forward to acknowledging all of our entrants on June 20th. So um I believe that's it. So congratulations to all of our participants. So it's now my honor to begin recognizing those students. So when you hear your name, please come on up and receive your certificate. Okay. So our first winner is in the fourth grade, Reina Bhatt. Please come up. >> [applause] >> Great job, Reina. Congratulations. You can go ahead and sit right here and face forward there. Perfect. You can stand right there. Great. Okay, our fifth grade winner is Haley Adriano.
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Growing up in a small town like Alo taught me something important. Sometimes opportunities don't disappear. You have to create them yourself. I watched my classmates become athletes, leaders, artists, workers, and role models. I saw people step outside their comfort zones and discover strength they didn't know they had. To our teachers and staff, thank you for being more than educators. Thank you for believing in us even when we didn't believe in ourselves. Thank you for your patience, guidance, and support. Some of you have impacted our lives in ways you may never fully realize. Mr. Paulo, Miss Scodio, Miss Fernandez, Miss Granny, Mr. Romo, Miss Mano, Mr. Maningo, Miss Bautista, and Miss Blanchard, thank you for helping us through through these years. Thank you for putting up with us and encouraging us. I know students can be short with you sometimes, but we all appreciate everything you've done for us.
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I would like to thank my parents and sisters for all their sacrifices they made for my education and supporting me in sports and in my life. Love you all. To the graduating class of 2026 and my peers that have attended high school with me, I just want to say that although we are going back in the society, remember that we are not alone in having a disability. Even if life is very hard, realize that we have already endured to this very point while not knowing where we will end up. Cherish every moment moment with hope and charity as we continue to strive with every moment. Remember that the Lord loves and will provide. So, please continue with school or work and follow your dreams and passions you have boiling up and share it to the world. Thank you. That was ASB valedictorian Anthony Burke. I would like to introduce our other ASB valedictorian, Jamal Stell.
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Chase meaning, chase truth, be present, be kind, be fearless. Be fearless enough to think for yourself and most importantly, never let the digital version of yourself become more important than the real one. Congratulations, class of 2026. Thank you. It is my pleasure to introduce our salutatorian, Rhiannon Plunkett. I want you all to close your eyes and imagine a hiking trail. It can be as clear as you want with perfect weather and all the stamina you need to make it up the hill. The sun will shine bright, but it won't burn. The breeze will be soothing, not blowing pollen in your face. No cuts, no scrapes, no bruises, no falls, just a clear path up to the top of the mountain or whatever destination you imagine. That image sounds nice, doesn't it? But that's really all it is, an image from your imagination. The real paths that we take aren't easy or perfect.
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And when those moments come, I hope we remember the lesson of the endurance. Progress is still possible even when the path changes. Sometimes courage looks dramatic, but more often courage looks ordinary. It looks like getting back up after rejection and putting one foot in front of the other. It looks like helping a friend who is struggling. It looks like continuing to try when success is not guaranteed. Shackleton said, "Diff difficulties are just things to overcome." I hope we carry that mindset into the future. As we leave this chapter behind, we should remember that none of us reached this stage alone. One of the most powerful parts of the Endurance story is how deeply the crew depended on each other. Survival was never an individual achievement. The same is true for us. Behind every graduate sitting here tonight is a network of people who believed in us.
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I was going to give you guys the petition. Uh all told we have 282 signatures uh on that petition. Um But since writing that, I've had a number of conversations uh with other parents. Uh One of the things that uh I learned was that there was actually a part-time music teacher approved um in March of 2024 by the board. It's in the minutes. Um I don't know whatever happened to that position, but to the best of my knowledge we do not have a part-time music teacher of any uh of any variety. Um I've also learned that among a lot of parents in the district, there is for some reason a culture of distrust of some of our administration, some of our school board. I'm not one of those parents. I have seen the work that you guys do. I think that for the most part everything I've seen is that you care deeply about the district and that you do a really good job of making sure that we're financially uh aware of what we're doing and that um that you you're keeping the interest of students uh in mind as best as you are able.
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Uh, and I'm just going to say it. There's a whole new personality in the orchestra area among the kids, among the directors. So, we're looking forward to You've set the bar. Same with you guys. So, good luck. Okay. Okay. Our next order of business is public comments. >> No comments. >> Oh, and I see we have no comments. And next is our consent items. Do I have a motion? >> Mr. President, I move that we approve or I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> No discussion. >> Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> I. >> Motion passes three to one. Yeah. Three to one. >> Uh, next. >> Mr. or Mr. Russell, can I introduce someone tonight with us? Uh, I'd like to introduce uh the to the community and to the school board, Mr.
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Um, and that's the district average. And then, if you see now in 2024-2025, we were at 17%. That attendance metrics move slowly, and so that is a significant amount of progress. And you can see some buildings had even greater jump than that. The middle school's very notable. They were at 38%, and last year they ended at 21%, and they're on track to improve this year, as well. And then, this was what we offered um, when we started our Ready Project and looked to expand programming at the high school and CTE, career technology. Um, and we have even more than this that we offer now for our students, and we've been able to add certifications and programmings that kids can get right here in Jennings County. We had our first group of CDL licensed graduates last week. How many did we end up with? 10. Um, 10 students graduated with their CDL um, in this last week in that new program.
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Yeah, really smart base running, aggressive base running by Haley. As soon as that ball left the short stop's hands, she was on route to third and she slides in easily getting herself to third base with only one out for a Caroline Kyra to come to the plate here. And 20 RBIs on the season for Kyra. She has another chance here with a runner at third and she'll ground that one to short. Isherwood's only play is at first and it is in time, but Butera man will score. It's an RBI groundout and it's two nothing Clockers. Yeah, Caroline unfortunately grounds out to the short stop there with a little bit a little bit in front of that ball, but does get the runner in from third base. But now we have two outs for the red hot Lorelei Collett. We'll see if she can build off a four-for-four afternoon yesterday.
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So, great event. It is the origin Was it just us hosting, or we rotate in in the subsequent years with another school? >> this is um very much a product of Pure Health, and it's something that we do every year. Um this actually was our 15th anniversary. Uh it's all done Well, it's Pure Health that does it, but we get a lot of help from the Ryan T. Lee Foundation, uh and especially from from Coach Lee. So. >> Got you. Awesome. Well, next year Well, you're not going to be here next year, but put me on the the list, please. And thank you for the invite. Um any other board members with questions, comments? Awesome. Well, we have one more meeting with you, but good luck with final exams, and we'll see you June 4th again. Thank you. Awesome. The next item I'm really excited for this next item because we have a celebrity in the house.
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Um and so to Moren's point, we were able to collect all of this and pull these themes out of it. Um, and then we were also able to go back to some of those student groups and share this share our themes with them and just kind of have them validate the themes that we found. So um given that um that was working at you know going along well, we also as an admin team at the high school really wanted to tie in this idea of student voice to our instructional practices and things that were happening in the classroom. And how better to do that than to actually ask students how they view their learning process. So, I'm going to invite up my next speaker is Jack Alexovich, a science teacher, and he's going to speak to how we handled that. Um, but I will just kind of preface this with the fact that because our group for belonging had training through PEL and it and it, you know, it went so well and felt so good to feel um that we were kind of doing this as experts like as if we, you know, had this other this other piece that helped us do it in the the right way.
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But I I don't also don't want to dismiss the user member either. Oh no not at all not at all. I'm saying like in addition to what like to me that's obvious like the sports teams but then or some sort of representative from the ex Yeah. >> teams yeah. Maybe the athletic director John Percival or something I I I don't know. Uh but then above and beyond that is where I was going with it and yeah I mean I think if we have like residents in town who are you know regular people I think that's good. >> Right cuz they use it. It is a public space. Yeah. >> That ends up being used when our sports teams don't Yeah. >> play on it and so forth so Yeah I mean people run on the track. >> Exactly. Yeah. So I'll I'll make sure to look into that.
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Madeleine Tessier, Tessier, business, English, PE health, Latin. Jaden Tokuno, English, social studies, Italian, presidential certificate. Ryan Trambley, social studies. Braden Turski, English, PE health, social studies, Italian, presidential certificate. Caitlin Terrell, English, presidential certificate. Ashley Vernou, CTE. Brandon Vu, music. Carly Walker, art, business. Matthew Watson, English, math, music, science, Spanish, presidential certificate. Ava Watts, English, PE health, social studies. Kyler Weinberg, business. Jack Wheelahan, CTE. Graham Wing, art. Christine Wertz, CTE. Kevin Shea, music, presidential certificate. Jeffrey Yan, math, science, presidential certificate. Sajida Yousufzai, CTE. Thomas Zemaities music. >> [applause] [applause] >> Should I grab a water after all that reading? Okay, first of all, congratulations again to everybody. We do have final recognitions this morning. We would like to formally announce this year's valedictorian and salutatorian. It is my pleasure to announce that the salutatorian for the class of 2026 is Bradley Fang. >> [applause] [applause] >> Let's see if he is.
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Not long ago, we were simply simply stepping into a new chapter unaware of how much our lives were about to change. In an instant, everything shifted and what felt like a single moment became four unforgettable years filled with laughter, tears, frustration, and growth. No one understands this journey better than us. We went on feeling or like our childhood would last forever to experiencing our teenage years in ways we never expected through a computer screen. And through it all, we adapted. That resilience defines the class of 2026. When I look at you, I don't just see high school graduates. I see the young sixth graders that we once were. I see the people that showed me kindness, who stood up for what they believed in, and became more than just classmates. We became a family. Our community may be small, but we have so much to offer.
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Despite all the uncertainty, we found ourselves. May it be a club or an organization, we all discovered something that we called our safe space. As our senior quote says, "You need to know where you are going to know where you come from." And all that we have experienced here, every obstacle, every memory, every moment of growth has shaped our path ahead of us. For me, personally, Western has changed me a way that I would have never expected. I used to be shy, hiding behind my parents' legs, avoiding speaking in front of people at all costs. But through Western, especially ASB, I found the courage I always had inside of me. And now as I stand here today, I can truly see how much I've grown. And as these last few weeks have flown by, I know all of us have taken the time to reflect on how much we've grown, too.
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