38 graduate from Mid-Peninsula High School 38 graduate from Mid-Peninsula High School (June 08, 2005)

Seniors at Mid-Peninsula High School in Menlo Park heard graduation speaker Traci Bliss, once a teaching assistant at their school, urge them to "Be Who You Have Become."

Ms. Bliss, now a professor of curriculum and teacher education at Idaho State University in Twin Falls, said her inspiration for getting a master's degree and a doctorate in education from Stanford University came from her work in 1981 at the private school, now located in Menlo Park.

The school is designed for students with academic potential who can benefit from a smaller environment and a flexible, individually focused academic program.

She based her June 4 talk on dozens of in-depth interviews with graduates who attended Mid-Peninsula High School in the 1980s and 1990s. The interviews helped inform her recently published book, "Belonging: The Magic of Mid-Pen, Twenty-Five Years at Mid-Peninsula High School."

Ms. Bliss is the daughter of the school's co-founder, the late Phil Bliss.

Student speakers were Mike Cummings, Andrew Jones, Monique Lascola, Kate Lawson and Tim Peterson.

Mike Cummings and Shayla Gardner received the Community Award for exemplifying the spirit of the high school. The award is usually given to one senior, but the entire faculty chose two honorees this year.

Graduates in Mid-Peninsula High School's Class of 2005 are:

A-F: Katherine May Anthony, Devon Thomas Batey, Julianna Alicia Bradford, Julia Callan, Jesse A. Carter, Michael Bruce Cummings, Reggie L. Demery, Jr., Kaitlin Erb, August Fleishman, Matthew W. Foster

G-M: Shayla Gardner, Kelly Hardy, Miguel E. Hernandez Madriz, Andrew David Holmes, Peter Jacobi, George Andrew Jaynes, Andrew B. Jones, Sean M. Lambert, Monique Jo Lascola, Katherine Anne Lawson, Sarah Marjorie Luce, Cameron Alexander MacBride, Hayden Alexander Marcus, Alexandra Nicole Michaels

P-Y: Corinna Perdue, Andrew James Perrin, Timothy Robert Peterson, Genevra Allison Peyser, Jennifer Nicole Proudian, Christopher A. Rollins, Molly Ann Coffey Saunders, Crystine Serrone, Nicholas Stankovich, Heather Mary Storton, Sally Rose Vitello, Patrece L'shaun Warren, Walter Washington, and Ashley Rose Yamas.

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