On Monday, June 12, more than 500 Granada Hills seniors proudly walked across the graduation stage, not at their John F. Kennedy High School campus in Granada Hills, but at the Santa Anita Park racetrack 32 miles away in Arcadia.
The big shift to Arcadia was prompted by a massive renovation project taking place at their high school campus, but that didn’t dull the excitement of graduating seniors who immersed the grandiose Arcadia stadium in a sea of golden caps and gowns — a nod to their mascot the Golden Cougar.
Last year, the school showed its academic leadership by capturing its record ninth U.S. Academic Decathlon, repeating as national titlists in a competition that focused on the topic of water. The team scored 52,383.2 points. Like the California Academic Decathlon held in March of 2022, the national competition took place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their school is home to three different magnet programs: The Architecture, Digital Design & Filmmaking Magnet; Highly Gifted/High-Ability Medical Magnet; and Global Leadership & Environmental Action Magnet. It is also home to a Teaching & Leadership Academy, which helps prepare students for careers in education and a School for Advanced Studies, which offers a rigorous curriculum of honors and Advanced Placement courses. The high school student body numbers more than 2,300.
The 2023 graduation ceremony included speeches from students, Principal Oscar Vazquez and LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. Graduating seniors will go on to attend a wide variety of regional, state and national colleges and universities. And several students in the Teaching & Leadership Academy will begin their careers at LAUSD as instructional aides and special education assistants.
The school’s comprehensive modernization plan is not slated to be complete until 2028, meaning that the race track ceremony may become the norm for the next few years. The massive renovation project includes the construction of a…
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