Finding Joy in LiFe’s everyday MoMents

BY SOPHIE ANDERSEN

DANA HILLS CLASS OF 2023, congratulations on graduating! Upon all of your behalf, I would like to extend a massive thank you to all of the teachers, staff, administration, parents, guardians, grandparents, and whoever else has been influential in your life who is here today to watch us receive a piece of paper.

However, despite that, we are incredibly grateful to be here today, because after moving a piece of stringy fabric across our ceremonial square hats, we will have completed our time at Dana Hills, and we will be moving on to our next endeavors in life.

There are few moments like these when we are faced with an overwhelming sense of pride for having completed something we set out to do so many years ago and (potentially) a slight touch of existential dread as we question what we are really doing in life.

There’s high school graduation, college graduation, a first job, or maybe moving to a new place.

These are the brief clips of life that are usually highlighted in movies, quotes, Instagram feeds, and all of those other very important forms of media where we like to share our lives online and say, “Hey, look, we did it!”

But these moments are few and far between, and for good reason. It takes an immense amount of effort over an extended period of time to achieve these goals. But because these are the moments that are showcased in the media that we consume, if we are not careful enough, we can find ourselves living only for these moments.

I am not arguing that it is a poor idea to strive to achieve a goal or a purpose in life; in

It is easy to look back at our time at Dana Hills and smile at the everyday things that make this place far from ordinary:

Complaining about constantly broken air conditioning; the endorphin rush from confetti after a Canvas submission; the endless night practices for your sport; throwing cough-inducing colored chalk in the air as you pretend to understand or even watch the football game; watching the drumline perform at those pep rallies and realizing that marching band is actually really awesome; stressing with friends about a math test in that cold, dark and shady hall; watching Eddie impressively run with the flag at every single game this year; the daily treks to the portables in “Africa”; listening to the Friday Song from those very “anonymous” singers; or when you walk past Steve or even someone you know just a bit and they call out your name, reminding you that you are important and you are recognized.

Our ordinary is beautiful, and it deserves to be rejoiced. So, as we move on to our futures, let us remember to not only recognize but to create moments every single day that bring us joy, because life is all of these moments, not just the graduations, the first jobs, the promotions.

Dana Hills Class of 2023, congratulations on graduating and thank you for creating an ordinary that is worth celebrating.

We are all so proud of you Connor. We wish you the very best as you become an Arizona State Sun Devil!

Love, Dad, Mom, Alec, and Austin Vernon.

Congratulations! We are so proud of you. We love you to infinity and beyond! We look forward to seeing what you’re going to accomplish.

Love you, Mom, Samantha, and Daniel.

Congrats Gavin! We are so proud of you and cannot wait to see what great things you will do! We love you!

Love, Mom, John, Blue, Kyle, Beau, Ginger & Oggie

Derrick Grassmann

“D”, we couldn’t be any prouder. Congratulations! Looking forward to the next chapter and all that awaits you at Lehigh University. We love you, Mom, and Dad.

Brougham

Congratulations on receiving valedictorian recognition! We are proud of you and excited to see what your future holds. Enjoy playing D1 Football at Rice University. Love, Dad, Mom, and Cullen

Colin Delaney

Congrats to our DHHS “Dolphin” now a California State University Chico “Wildcat”!

The sky is your limit...love you to the moon and back!!

Mom, Sophie, G&G

Jserra

Dana Point Graduates

Nathan Aquino

Anthony Arriola

Kennedy Barnes

Emma Brandon

Hudson Byrne

Trent Caraway

Kealani Caster

Anna Ciraci

Samantha Cotter

Antonio Esseily

Aiden German

Shaughnessy Hannegan

Sophia Moncur

Jake Stafford

Maxamillion Starr

Lauren Tonsich

Ava Zell