Editor’s note: The following excerpts are portions of the graduation speeches written and delivered by co-valedictorians Daniel Vinegrad and Dhara Jost, and salutatorian Morgan Maske. These speeches, which each student delivered at Coronado High School’s June 4 graduation ceremony, were provided to The Coronado News by the graduates.
Daniel Vinegrad
Tonight I would like to talk to you about success and legacy. For most of our lives, success has been something measurable. We learned to define ourselves through numbers and accolades: GPAs, test scores, and accomplishments. And for a long time, I believed that. I believed success meant standing out, being recognized, and reaching the next milestone.
But standing here today, at the end of these four years, I’ve realized something important:
Success is not just measured by what we accomplish, but by what we leave behind, who we help along the way, and who else we can lift up to achieve greatness in their own lives. Successful people are changemakers not only for themselves, but for others.
We see this in teachers, like Mrs. Hartge, helping struggling students learn concepts that once seemed too complex. We see this in teammates, inspiring their teams to CIF victory. We even see this in our counselors, like Mrs. Ereno, challenging us to be our best versions of ourselves.
This level of success is admirable, but when you look deeper, you see that leaving a legacy may be the pinnacle of success. Anyone can leave footprints as they pass through life, but forging a path for others to follow—that’s legacy. Legacy is about what remains because you were here, because you made a difference.
Dhara Jost
No matter what path we all take next in life, we all share this common ground of growing up here. On this island. Or… peninsula, as they taught us in 4th grade.
As I look to the future, the main thing I’m scared of isn’t leaving home. And it’s definitely not leaving behind the traffic of 3rd and 4th street. It’s leaving the people here.
I could not have gotten through high school without the friends I made along the way. And I think realizing that is important, because eventually all of us are going to leave this island and find ourselves somewhere completely unfamiliar. New cities, new schools, new routines, new people.
For the first time in our lives, we won’t automatically know everyone around us. We won’t walk into Vons and run into half our graduating class. We won’t have a community built into every part of our lives anymore.
And honestly, that’s terrifying.Â
But I also think growing up here prepared us for that better than we realize.
Because when you grow up on an island, you learn how important people are. You learn how to depend on others, how to show up for them, and how to build community even in small everyday ways.
And maybe that’s what we’re really taking with us when we leave. Not just memories, but the ability to create that feeling again somewhere else.
Morgan Maske
Don’t let anyone tell you you need to make 10 billion dollars or win a Nobel prize to be successful. Sometimes success for you is a doctorate, but sometimes it’s standing up to someone who wronged you.
Sometimes it’s getting out of a place you don’t want to be, or bravely speaking to someone in class, or asking for help. Sometimes it’s just getting out of bed in the morning, taking care of yourself. Everyone here today has achieved great success, and will continue to do so, if you follow your heart.Â
And we must keep in mind that we are not alone, no matter what we may think. I learned this from all of you. When you’re going downhill, falling or walking, you may feel afraid. Yet if you look left, and look right — do you see? These are people who have been there for you.
These are the people who will help carry your burden if you only ask. For a long time I thought myself invisible, yet here I realize I have never truly stood alone. Behind me is my family line, beside me the connections I’ve made, peers and mentors, and ahead of us all — possibility.Â
