For 20 soon-to-be high schoolers, their final day as Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH) students was much like their school experience, full of both playful and poignant moments.
On Tuesday, SMASH held a graduation ceremony for students that finished "Core 4" learning on the campus. SMASH, offering a robust social curriculum alongside its academics, focuses on models such as Project-Based Learning to enhance their time on campus. Students are broken into four "cores," with the final "Core 4" being seventh and eighth grade students studying mathematics, humanities and science through individual and group projects.
SMASH Principal Jessica Riche said this particular eighth grade group has left "quite a legacy" on campus, including helpful mentorship to younger students and a "combination of very loud and quiet advocacy." Riche added that it’s "hard to say goodbye" to the 2024 class, but knows it must be done because "they’re ready to embrace what’s ahead."
"A characteristic of them overall as a whole is [that] they’re playful," Riche said. "They’ve shown physical agility, artistic creativity, intelligence [and] ability to command an audience … you will have a fulfilling, successful, positively impactful high school experience and life ahead of you."
The SMASH ceremony was full of that playfulness, from seventh graders writing humorous new lyrics to songs like "Party in the USA" and "We Didn’t Start the Fire" to commemorate the class, as well as various jokes thrown out during graduate speeches. As per campus tradition, the graduates were not called up in any specific order, as teachers instead gave out clues as to who the graduate was, prompting the crowd to yell out a name.
One of the names was Leonardo Ka, who comically recited a quote from Kung Fu Panda about the gift of the present, before heaping praise on his classmates in his own hilarious way.
"I started out as an awkward sixth grader, I ended up belonging in a gang of eighth graders, it’s truly been a journey," Ka remarked.
The bonds formed within the 2024 class were on display in nearly every speech, including Lamarr Turner who called fellow graduates "like family."
"We’ve spent 1,809 days together, and I wish we could have a few more," Turner said. "We are about to embark on a new journey, and even though we won’t be on the same campus … I know that the love and support that my classmates feel [for each other], it won’t end."
These friendships were the key to self-discovery for many, such as Jordyn Cogan, who said she walked onto SMASH campus "completely terrified" but left proud of her identity as "an autistic, LGBTQ individual."
"If there’s one thing I have learned during my three and a half years [at] SMASH, it’s how to accept myself even when others cannot accept me … my friends [have] taught me to be unafraid to show people who I am," Cogan said.
SMASH students further explored their identities through the "Eighth Grade Passion Project," seeking out topics that interest them like Griffin Kay’s affinity for graffiti and street art, and Phoebe Gardner learning sign language which was brought out during her speech.
"Your love and encouragement have been the foundation upon which we build [and] achieve," Gardner said of her class. "[SMASH will] always be something that I hold close to my heart because of the friends that have been with me for nine years."
