Pacifica Christian O.C. High sends off graduating class with message to ‘love thy neighbor’ and flourish

Cars arrived Thursday night at Mariners Church in a procession, just as the daylight started to dim.

There, in the Irvine church’s parking lot, each car carried a graduating senior from Pacifica Christian Orange County High School in their caps and gowns, with some accompanied by their mothers, fathers and siblings, while some families chose to watch from afar as students took their places beside the stage.

Others — extended family members, alumni and community members — watched from home as the ceremony was streamed online. “Pomp and Circumstance” played and a photo and video montage of seniors began the celebration. Attending family members were guided to designated and distanced seating areas.

“Today is not about a pandemic. Today, we acknowledge that God, who brought these brilliant individuals to this point. We, the class of 2020, possess a story unlike any other,” school valedictorian Rebecca Li said in a pre-recorded video.

“When I wrote this speech during the shutdown, I, like my classmates, was clinging to the hope of this day,” Li said. “Yet, beyond this day, beyond this year, I am holding onto the hope that we will be defined not merely by what happened to us, but what happens because of us.”

Forty-one seniors graduated Thursday from the small private Christian school, each ascending a stage one-by-one to collect a medal and their diploma. Just before diplomas were handed out, the generator powering equipment at the church briefly went out and students broke into song while others chatted with one another after months separated by online schooling.

Equipment for the commencement ceremony had been provided by donations from Production Alliance Group in Tustin and Mariners Church. Once power was restored, pre-recorded videos of teachers speaking about each graduate played, as part of the high school’s tradition, on screens behind the stage.

Students traditionally ask teachers to speak about them and typically the speeches are done at senior events. Those events had to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and were “collapsed” into the graduation ceremony.

“Every young person has great value and dignity that they don’t always believe in themselves. Sometimes, we have to breathe that belief into them,” David O’Neil, head of the school, said Thursday afternoon.

“What makes us unique and different? We have 200 students. We know each kid,” O’Neil said. “What makes us special in some ways is that we have real intimate knowledge and love and care for our students, and we can meaningfully remind them who they are and their important work and to speak goodness and beauty over them as they head out.”

The ceremony took about three to four weeks to plan and staff and faculty had to consider current state and local health guidelines in addition to the question of how to provide graduates “the closest to normal experience,” O’Neil said.

“I think it’s been very difficult for schools across the country to think how to send young people into the world,” O’Neil said.

“When I think about all that we’re experiencing over the last three months and especially over the last two weeks, I can’t think of a more important thing to do than to safely and thoughtfully bring young people together to commission them into their first next step into adulthood,” O’Neil said, “and, here [Thursday], into loving thy neighbor and to seek their flourishment, their good in the world.”

In the dark of the night, bagpipes played and seniors threw their caps high into the air.

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