Beyond the Millennium

VALLEY GLEN —  Flanked by 48 flags representing the nations from which the students hail, the Grant High School Class of 2000 graduated Thursday in a ceremony celebrating its diversity.

Miniature flags with golden tassels hung from rearview mirrors of cars in the parking lot at Valley College. A procession of students delivered graduation salutes in 19 languages. Sections of the audience roared, howled and whistled in pride when the addresses were translated into Spanish and Armenian.

But the diversity of the student body, which was praised Thursday, caused divisiveness last October when 200 Latino and Armenian students brawled in a fight started by two girls over a boyfriend.

Senior Tiffany Franklin told her fellow students they have done well to “overcome the wrath of racial tension” while under the pressure of high expectations and “the added weight of proving stereotypes wrong.”

Franklin also lauded the teachers who helped return Grant to normalcy after students, armed with bottles and trash cans, turned against each other last year.

“You were there when we weren’t there for ourselves,” Franklin said, to enthusiastic applause from the 600 new graduates.

Senior Class President Monica Kitt talked about the unique pressures of being part of the Class of 2000. Her words could easily apply to any of the estimated 30,000 students graduating from 49 Los Angeles Unified School District high schools this year.

“We have been the special ones since Day One,” she said.

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Student Body President Ariana Bennett said the media have made much of “what’s wrong with the Class of 2000 and what’s wonderful about the Class of 2000.”

“Our class has always had an aura around it that set us apart from the classes before us and behind us who walked the same hallways and will walk this same stage,” she said.

In the course of their academic careers, the Grant students have seen metal detectors and campus police become just as much a part of campus life as chalkboards and school bells.

They enter a world where it is soon to be a cliche to hear that a 19-year-old’s high-tech ideas have made him a multimillionaire overnight.

“So why wouldn’t they be a little under pressure, stressed?” asked Manny Deltoro, 30, of Van Nuys, who came to watch his nephew graduate. “They have big, important things to do from here. When I graduated, there was pressure just to go to college, whether or not you were going to do something with it. For them, it’s a big deal to do something big, whether you go to college or not. They have 20-year-olds with record companies now.”

Fran Ramirez, a school district administrator who oversees campuses in the area, told the class to take with them their fond memories of the school.

“Most importantly,” Ramirez said, “recall who you are and who you want to be.”