2025 OUSD Graduations Begin Next Week and Seniors Are More Than Ready to Start The Next Phase of Their Lives

After a long and successful 2024-25 school year, graduation season is almost here. The first graduation of the year is set for Dewey Academy on Thursday afternoon, May 22. So, seniors across Oakland are getting ready for finals, grad night, and planning for the future. Many new OUSD graduates will head to college, many will go to trade school, and many more will head straight into the workforce. Our college bound seniors are heading to schools across the state and across the country, including Cal State East Bay, the University of Southern California, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Here is your chance to meet some of our soon-to-be graduates and to hear what they are planning to do after graduation, some during the summer, and many starting in the fall.

“I’m excited but at the same time, I’m very nervous, you know? Something new, obviously something different,” said Lizbeth Santiago from Madison Park Academy who plans to major in construction management at Cal State East Bay. “It means a lot. I’m the first one to go to college in my family. So, it means a lot. And I have my parents to support me, or to push me to do it. So, it does mean a lot to go to college… My family is very proud of the idea of me going. To me, it’s something bigger. It’s for my family. To work, to have something better. My parents have always felt like you know if you want to do something, you have to go to school. You have to go get a better job, you can’t just do the same things. So, it means just go towards that, get my dreams.”

“That was the biggest thing that my grandpa preached to me was getting into college, and having an education. He always loved me playing basketball, but the biggest thing he ever preached since I was little was education,” said ArDarius Grayson (shown with his grandfather). He is also a state champion on Oakland Tech’s basketball team, and now he’s heading to Weber State University to study and play basketball. “When I first started, I really never thought this was ever an option. I was really more of a football player to be honest. But I started loving the game more and more, so it just means a lot knowing where I came from.”

“I want to become a certified electrician or a linesman,” said Esteban Martinez from Fremont High who will be going to Trade School at Cypress Mandela Training Center. “I want to have this career, because I grew up at a very young age, working with my father. He’s an electrician. He’s always taken me to work with him, I’ve enjoyed the experience of working as an apprentice for an electrician… I honestly feel real enjoyment seeing how my perseverance and my work can bring happiness to the families that I am providing this electricity for, this work for. I enjoy seeing lights turn on. I like seeing it’s working, what I’m doing.”

“I committed to Cal, majoring in public health,” said Rose Aguilar from Castlemont High who chose U.C. Berkeley for numerous reasons. “I think the distance definitely, I think being able to stay kind of close to my family but also some distance between that, and being able to experience college life. I’m the first in my family to live on campus and get to experience that. And just getting to put all my energy and time into school was something that was really important to me, and Cal was able to offer that to me with the financial aid and everything. And also they have a lot of advisors at Berkeley, with their educational partnership at TRIO, so it just kind of makes sense for me, just knowing that I have some people there for that, and I have connections to support me while I am in college.”

Addison Alvarado is about to graduate from Madison Park Academy and has his future planned out. “My major is accounting, I’m going into business. I was choosing between San Jose State and UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara). Well, San Jose State is well known for their business program, their accounting business program, and I did a lot of research on both of them, and I ultimately decided I want to go to UCSB because I just felt the social life… I visited it before, visited during open house, and that was when I made my decision. It was honestly a great experience. I love the campus, I love the social life. I got to meet a lot fo freshmen, and they all gave the same vibe. They all seemed really happy to be there, and I felt like I could really picture myself over there.”

Cecilia Vaskonen from McClymonds High is heading to renowned technical school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the fall, and said her acceptance came as a bit of a shock. “I fully convinced myself that I was not going to get into MIT. I was actually in Mr. Evans’ class when I got the decision and I was like, I realized like two minutes before that I had prepared myself to not get in, but I had not prepared myself emotionally to get in. And I was thinking about the fact that I had been anticipating this moment for months and it’s going to be in the past so quickly. So, I opened the application, and I saw the word “offer” and the confetti, and I closed it immediately and just had to stand around processing it for a solid five minutes… Once it happened it became more and more clear, of course that’s where I want to go.”

Xan Meyer-Plettner is graduating from Oakland Tech, where he was a State Champion basketball player. And now, he will be attending and playing for Chico State University. “I’m still deciding between two programs, kinesiology and animal biology, and Chico State is known for that. And I’m super happy that those two things match up for me. And I’ve toured the building, been inside the building, I’ve met the people, and they’re super receptive and so I’m really excited to be going there, and studying and continuing on.”

“Before I got into Cypress Mandela (Training Center as an apprentice), I also did it last year. I also didn’t know what I wanted to do with my future,” said Samantha Perez from Skyline High who is heading to Laney College and Trade School at Cypress Mandela. “So, my mom works in construction, she’s a laborer. And I wanted to try something new. And I didn’t know that I was going to like it, and I did, and I fell in love with it. The people there, are amazing people. Mr. Emiliano (Sanchez from the OUSD Linked Learning Team) is the most amazing mentor I know. Thanks to him, I know what I want to do. Thanks to Cypress I know I want to become an electrician or get my associates degree in electrical technology, and then after maybe open my own company.”

“I applied to all nine University of California schools and I got into all of them,” said Guadalupe Segura from Coliseum College Prep Academy. Planning to eventually attend medical school, she applied to 34 schools and was accepted into 30 of them. She has chosen to attend the University of Southern California, and credits CCPA for her success. “I started here since sixth grade, I been in the summer program, and since I was in middle school, I applied in METS, which is the Mills Educational Talent Search, it’s a college prep program, as well. And from there, i was just like motivated for my family… And as time passed by, I kept applying to Upward Bound, College Track, and all those programs, which are here from CCPA… I found my own way to get into college classes, and I’ve taken a total of 21 college classes.”

Here are three more seniors who are ready to graduate and tackle the world. They have different plans for next year, and we know all of them will find much success along their chosen path.

There is also great news from Northeastern University on the old Mills College campus. Seven OUSD seniors have received $340,000 full ride Oakland Opportunity Scholarships, and they include one from Oakland High, one from CCPA, two from Skyline High, and three from Oakland Tech.

And here’s some great news for graduates this year and beyond. This month, OUSD entered into an agreement with Cal State East Bay (CSUEB) that guarantees admission to the Hayward-based university for all OUSD seniors who qualify. University and District leaders say this will dramatically increase the number of students from Oakland who enroll at CSUEB.