RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Hundreds of Cordova High School families, alumni, faculty and students gathered Friday to celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2018 during the school’s 54th commencement ceremony in Lancer Stadium.

Addressing the 350 graduates before him, Student Body President Francis Wong hailed his peers’ resilience and perseverance to meet their goals.

“The efforts and accomplishments it took for us to stand here today are immeasurable,” he said to applause.

Wong also touched on the unique and personal bonds students at Cordova High build throughout their four-year journey, calling his campus “not only the most diverse school in our district, but also the most familial.”

Lancers reaching the finish line last week have exciting futures ahead. Nearly 50 of them are heading to University of California or California State University system colleges, and dozens more are heading out of state for four-year colleges. Another 120 students will receive their first year of college free through the Folsom Lake College Promise Program. And 11 students have chosen to serve in the military.

Among those choosing college after high school, 30 students are the first in their families to do so. The Class of 2018 earned a combined $37,000 in local scholarships to further their educations, and three students stand to receive educational benefits from the military worth a combined $265,000.

Forty students finished in the top 10 percent of their class. Sixty-seven students took one or more rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme classes in their final years of high school, while 20 students earned full IB diplomas.

Additionally, 44 students earned California State Seal of Merit Diplomas, and another 51 met or surpassed the requirements to earn State Seal of Biliteracy awards.

Friday marked Principal Dan Anklam’s eighth and final year as Cordova High’s leader. Next year he will take over leadership of Mitchell Middle School, where he began his teaching career 30 years ago. 

Anklam called the Class of 2018 a group distinguished by its response to change: The implementation of the IB Programme, new facility modernizations on campus, and a rapidly evolving world around them, just to name a few.

“The Class of 2018 modeled class, decorum, and dignity,” Anklam said. “The Class of 2018 not only experienced and lived change, they thrived in change. Learning to cope with, work with, and embrace change is an essential skill to becoming fully formed adults.”

Missed the ceremony: You can watch - and share with loved ones - an archived broadcast of the 2018 Cordova High Commencement Ceremony online by visiting Folsom Cordova Unified School District on Facebook.