National College Signing Day is an opportunity for community and school leaders to celebrate and support high school seniors who are planning to attend college, trade school or the military after they graduate. The local event was designed to celebrate seniors from San Jacinto High and Mountain View High, and their commitment to complete their education beyond high school. Inspired by our nation’s National College Athletic Association (NCAA) National Signing Day, College Signing Day is designed to coincide with the time frame that most seniors must inform a college of their plans to enroll.
The SJUSD event included guest speaker Marianna Vinson, a former SJUSD assistant superintendent of education services and, most recently, the former deputy director for the Office of English Language Acquisition in the U.S. Dept. of Education, Washington, D.C.
“Work hard… make good choices,” shared Ms. Vinson, along with her story on how she was able to attend Stanford University in spite of the poverty in her family. Ms. Vinson attended grade school in the San Jacinto Valley, but moved to the San Diego area where she completed high school in Chula Vista. She returned to the valley when she began a career in teaching and continued upward in positions at SJUSD until taking a post in Washington, D.C.
Representatives from local colleges, including Mt. San Jacinto College and University of California, Riverside, also attended the gym-filled event to celebrate SJUSD seniors. Seniors participated in a signing ceremony and were awarded a medallion signifying their commitment to post-secondary education.
“I am extremely proud of my daughter who is planning to attend UCR to study medicine with the four-year Hoyt Scholarship,” said Maria Torres, an SJUSD employee at Record Elementary who attended the event with her daughter, San Jacinto High senior Kaitlyn Torres. “My older daughter graduated a few years ago, before the district starting holding these signing events,” continued Ms. Torres. “It was very special and very exciting, not only for us parents but also the kids,” she noted.
In the past two years, over 90% of graduating seniors from San Jacinto High or Mtn. View High have stated their intent to attend a four-year university, a two-year college, enlisting in the military or attending a trade school after high school.