For Petaluma graduates, a bright if uncertain future

Members of Petaluma’s high school graduating class of 2018 will be looking in two directions this week, gazing back fondly on 12 years of learning, growing and friendship while at the same time looking forward to a future many have planned, but none can know for certain.

For many, the future will mean more scholastic learning at institutions from Santa Rosa Junior College to the Ivy League. For others, the future will mean an immediate step into the adult world of working, building and earning a living. For all, the stroll across the stage will mean accomplishment and change.

Following are an examples of the young people who have left their marks on their schools and are now eager to leave their imprints on the world.

Bradley McCullough, San Antonio High School

For most high school graduates, it has been a 12-year educational marathon. For San Antonio High School graduate Bradley McCullough, it has been more like a mad dash to the finish.

McCullough is an articulate 17-year-old who makes friends easily, but, by his own admission, has had trouble focusing on his school work. He just wasn’t all that interested in school until this year. With encouragement from his mother, Jamie Lewis, his girlfriend, Josie Hoover, and Hoover’s mother, Carol Hoover, he made up his mind to not only graduate, but to graduate with his class this week.

He also had a family motivation. His twin brother, Jordan, will graduate from Carpe Diem High School.

Of course, there was a little problem - he was quite a bit behind. Thus the sprint began.

Taking six school classes, garnering credits for community service, doing extra credit work and taking adult school classes, he managed to accumulate 101 credits all the while maintaining good grades (two Cs, 3 Bs and an A+ this semester).

“I made it with just enough,” he announced proudly. “It was very hard. It took me seven months of just going home every day and doing what needed to get it done. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of stress, but it was all good stress.”

He said that during times of discouragement he would think about all the people who had helped him.

“I didn’t want to let them down,” he said. “I had put so much work in I didn’t want it to be wasted.”

Whenever the pressure got too great, McCullough had an outlet.

“When I felt like things were overwhelming me, I would hop on my racing bike and just cruise around town and get my head straight,” he said.

He said being at San Antonio High School was a big reason his last-year sprint to the graduation stage was successful.

“Being in smaller classes and being able to interact with the teachers definitely helped,” he said. “The teachers pushed me hard every day. They still made me do all the work, but they were always there to help me.”

Now that the goal has been achieved, McCullough is both nervous and excited.

“I’m finally done with 12 years of school,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned how to get myself out there; how to get a job; and how things go in the real world.”

Nicole Walker, Petaluma High School

At Petaluma High School, social life revolves around the Associated Student Body, and the ASB this year meant Nicole Walker.

It is a service that comes naturally for the 18-year-old, who has always been involved in school activities. As a freshman and junior, she was class vice-president. This year she was ASB president, completing four years of serving on the student body organization. The ASB organizes and administers dances, rallies, clubs and most all other student activities.

“It sets the social climate and culture of the school,” said Walker, the daughter of Jani and Craig Walker. She has one older brother.

While ASB is huge for Walker, it hasn’t prevented her from being one of the school’s top students. She has a 4.6 grade point average, taking almost all advanced placement classes.

Walker has also been a pioneer in girls lacrosse at Petaluma High. She joined the team as a freshman in the first year it was an official school sport and has seen it grow from a point when there was barely enough girls to field a team to this season when the Trojans played in the North Coast Section playoffs.

This year Walker added a job working at a downtown restaurant to her schedule. She enjoys lacrosse and works hard at her academics, but her passion is ASB.

“I love making things happen for my class and my school,” she said. “It makes me feel good.”

But even the ever optimistic and joyful Walker acknowledged that her senior year was different.

“The fires were just devastating,” she said. “Even though Petaluma wasn’t directly hit, the fires threw everyone off. We lost school days and everyone I know volunteered wherever they could.”

Then there was construction of the new field and pool that forced homecoming to be held at Casa Grande High School.

But none of it fazed Walker. “It was a great senior year,” she said. “I 100 percent love Petaluma High. I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else.”

Now she is going somewhere else, to UCLA where she will be a pre-business major with an emphasis in economics, although she isn’t certain that will be her future occupation.

“I have time to decide what I’m going to do. I believe college is the time when you really decide what you want to do the rest of your life,” she said.

Lillie Montplaisir, Valley Oaks High School independent study

For Lillie Montplaisir, success came in a path less traveled. Montplaisir tried both Casa Grande and Petaluma high schools and finally settled into the independent study program at Valley Oaks, where she has flourished.

She finished her senior year a few weeks ago, but joined her classmates for official graduation ceremonies this week at the Lucchesi Center where Petaluma’s alternate school seniors celebrated well-earned accomplishments. For Montplaisir, Valley Oaks has been a perfect fit for the last two years.

“Being one-on-one with my teacher is really cool. The teachers at Valley Oaks really care about you. It makes a difference,” said Montplaisir, who lives with her father and two little dogs, and has an older sister.

Valley Oaks gave her the freedom and encouragement she didn’t find at either Casa Grande or Petaluma high schools. Being able to work at her own pace was important for Montplaisir, perhaps even more important was the relationship she developed with her teachers at Valley Oaks - teachers she only saw once a week unless she needed help.

“The teachers were great,” she said. “They were always were there to help me. They made me want to do my best work for them. It is incredibly nice to have that kind of relationship with teachers.”

Still, it is independent study, and that means doing the work yourself.

“It takes a lot of self confidence. You have to be disciplined,” she said.

She acknowledged that studying on her own did have some drawbacks.

“I did miss the social aspects (of a more traditional school),” she said. “But I did meet people and make friends in classes like physical education and art.”

Valley Oaks also let the creative side of Montplaisir flourish. She loves to be creative - drawing, painting and designing clothes. She said her school choice has helped bring out those talents. “Valley Oaks has definitely helped me be more creative and confident,” she said.

Another thing she loves is skateboarding, which serves as both recreation and transportation.

“I really like skateboarding,” she said. “I was working in a shop where they made skateboards, and I thought I should be able to learn how to use them.”

Montplaisir isn’t sure what her future will bring. She said she might like to use her creative talents to work in movie special effects, fashion design or something similar. She is considering Santa Rosa Junior College with a transfer to a trade school down the line.

Mia Cain, Casa Grande High School

Mia Cain is one of the best athletes ever at Casa Grande High School. But now that Casa Grande and athletics are over, she looks forward to the next chapter in her life, a chapter that probably will not include sports.

Cain, a three-sport athlete her entire four-year Casa Grande tenure, will attend Chico State University next fall, but does not intend to play sports.

“Graduation seems kind of scary, but college is exciting,” she said.

She will miss not only sports. At Casa Grande, she volunteered at Petaluma Valley Hospital, participated in the Tomorrow’s Leaders Today program, helped at the Salesian Boys & Girls Club in San Francisco and was a member of the Interact Club. She also had a 4.0 grade point average this semester, and ranks in the top 10 percent of her graduating class.

This year, she played golf in the fall, basketball in the winter and lacrosse in the spring. Basketball is the strongest sport for the All-League selection, and she doesn’t rule out the possibility of attempting to make the Chico State team as a walk-on.

She also enjoys lacrosse for much the same reason she likes basketball - the camaraderie of her teammates.

The Casa Grande basketball team reached the North Coast Section playoffs, while the lacrosse team, featuring Cain and two of her basketball teammates, Trinity Merwin and Sophia Gardea, won the North Bay League championship after winning just one game the year before.

Golf is a practical matter for the senior. Not only is it a sport she can play the rest of her life, it is a sport that can lead to other things.

“Golf is important in business,” she said. “A lot of business is conducted on a golf course.”

While many graduates leave high school with no set plans for the future, Cain is certain about where she is headed.

“I always really wanted to be in the health field,” she said. “My family knows a lot of people who are nurses, and I saw how important they are and what a difference they can make in a person’s life.”

She utilized Casa Grande’s health-career pathway to get started on her career choice, and Chico State was the logical place to continue in that direction.

Her mother, Lisa, and father, Chad, are both Chico graduates, but the choice was settled after a visit to the campus last summer. She was immediately sold on the campus. It also helped that Chico has a highly regarded nursing program.

Another Cain is on the way to Casa Grande. Mia’s brother, Tory, enters the school next fall as a freshman.