This past June, SLO Classical Academy High School (sloCAHS) celebrated its graduating Class of 2014 as three more students joined the ranks of sloCAHS grads! We are so excited for these young people as they take off on new adventures, and we thought our readers might like to hear a little about their plans.
Before we get to that, the ceremony itself was a heartwarming event with many highlights, and one we want to share with you is a speech given by Dylan Haynes-Carstens, one of the graduating seniors:
A lot of people say that graduating from high school is not a terribly large accomplishment and for the most part I agree with that. However, graduating from SLOCA high school I believe to be quite an accomplishment. I know that initially I did not see myself graduating from this school. In fact, like most middle schoolers at SLOCA, I had dreams of going to public school since it was viewed as “real” school and public school was also viewed as a whole lot cooler then going to sloCAHS.
Despite not wanting to go sloCAHS I made a compromise with my mom to try it out for one year. She said that if I did not like it after the first year that I did not have to go back. That first year at sloCAHS was hard. We had a teacher, who had just received her doctorate from Oxford University, named Doctor Gaw. She had us start out with reading texts in Middle English, writing papers on obscure historical figures, and learning large amounts of grammar. That first year was so hard that two of the male students in the class dropped out. However I stuck with it and at the end of the year I was glad I had.
The amount of knowledge I had gained and the fact that I had made some new friends made me want to keep going to school at sloCAHS. The following years at sloCAHS became easier as I learned how to manage my time better and as I became more comfortable with the work load and the assignments. I never thought I would learn many of the things I have learned at sloCAHS, like how political marriages helped hold the Roman Republic together, or how and why communism originated, or why certain ancient people groups had more technology than others. or how to write an absurdist story, or how to draw soup cans.
And because of sloCAHS not only did I learn these things, but I ENJOYED learning about these things as well as many more topics I learned at sloCAHS. For this “lighting of a fire” I would like to thank SLO Classical Academy High School and all its teachers. I would also like to thank all of my classmates for helping make sloCAHS be a fun place to attend school.
And before I sit down I would like to point out that over the five years that sloCAHS has been a school they have not had a single male student graduate, until today. So I would like to honor myself with the title “First Male Student to Graduate from San Luis Obispo Classical Academy High School.” Thank you.
He had us laughing but we also felt the sincerity of his words and knew his high school experience had been truly rewarding and meaningful. Thanks for sharing your speech with us, Dylan!
Our high school has graduated five students so far, and because we are super proud of them and want to brag on them a little bit, here’s a list of the colleges they have been accepted into:
Cal Poly, SLO
Calvin College
Corban College
George Fox University
Hillsdale College
Long Beach State University
Northern Arizona University
San Diego State University
UC Santa Cruz
UC Merced
University of Dallas
University of Nevada, Reno
Way to go!
Now here are our most recent graduates, along with a short description of what’s next for each of them:
Dylan Haynes-Carstens
Dylan was accepted into several colleges and he has chosen to attend the University of Nevada, Reno based on the research he has done into their geology/mining program. He is interested in their sub school called the McKay School of Mining, and is excited about the classes they offer in this area. Dylan is also excited to see what college history classes are like since he's so enjoyed history during his years at SLOCA!
Sara Overduin
Sara’s future plans include going to Cuesta Collage to study English, Costume Construction, Photography, Spanish, and Child Development. Her dream is to own her own costume shop and to become a preschool teacher. Sara very much enjoyed her years at SLOCA and is looking forward to applying what she’s learned to life after high school.
Audrey Raj
Audrey will attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo this fall and major in History. She hopes to also study philosophy and classical literature. Her plan is to teach history at the high school level and has already begun tutoring students in Latin (which has been absolutely awesome!). Audrey can say with certainty that her time at SLOCA has proved enriching, enlightening and enjoyable.
Here’s a quick update on our 2013 graduates:
Taylor Sanders
Taylor would like to become a surgical nurse, and has been working on her pre-reqs at Cuesta College for a nursing program. She has received her phlebotomy license since graduating last year. Taylor is applying to a few nursing schools and hopes to transfer next year.
Caroline Rein
Caroline wrote in and shared the following with Down Home about her past year:
My first year in college at Cal Poly as a theater arts major has been a whirlwind of joy, hard work and learning. I've taken many classes that have enabled me to grow as a scholar and adult. SloCAHS helped me gain some valuable skills. I felt prepared for the hard work and found it was not difficult to manage my time; whereas, some of my new friends found these aspects of their freshman year challenging. I absolutely love (almost) all of my classes. Amongst my favorite classes were COMS (communications – basically public speaking). I had to work hard for that class. I did a lot of research and writing, even calling the Assistant Costume Designer from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for an assignment. It was intimidating and exciting to have a conference call with her. It's been challenging and I've loved every minute of it.
I cannot wait for fall. I am looking forward to seeing my friends who've gone home for the summer, but also because I'm going to be pursuing more specific interests within my major. I'm going to be taking a Stage Makeup class in the fall and hopefully script writing and costume design in winter. I'm also going to officially declare my minor in music. I'm hoping after college to get a job as a costume designer for a few years… and then I'm going to move back to SLO and hopefully start a theater and music department for SLOCA!
Thanks for letting us know how it’s going, Carol
ine. It’s fun to hear from former students, and we love your enthusiasm for bringing your talents back to SLOCA!
We are extremely proud of each of our graduates and wish them great success in whatever path they choose.
SLO Classical Academy is not affiliated with the above mentioned colleges.
