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The 129th commencement ceremony at Sequoia High School on the morning of June 5 was sweltering and sentimental, with student speakers emphasizing immigration, inclusion and the power of community.
“From battling with the virus to now struggling with senioritis, we made it to the finish line,” Class of 2026 President Aiden Yu told the crowd at Sequoia’s football stadium.
More than 400 students received diplomas. Dozens were recognized for biliteracy, civic engagement and honor roll, while several graduates earned an International Baccalaureate diploma for completing courses focused on critical thinking and international understanding. A handful were specially recognized for earning an A in every course they completed at the school.
Graduates walk onto Terremere Field during Sequoia High School’s graduation ceremony in Redwood City on June 5, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
Graduate Diana Maganda Rosales speaks during Sequoia High School’s graduation ceremony at Terremere Field in Redwood City on June 5, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
Programs for Sequoia High School’s graduation ceremony on a table at Terremere Field in Redwood City on June 5, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
Attendees cheer as graduates’ names are called during Sequoia High School’s graduation ceremony at Terremere Field in Redwood City on June 5, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
Attendees cheer for graduates during Sequoia High School’s graduation ceremony at Terremere Field in Redwood City on June 5, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
Graduates walk toward Terremere Field before Sequoia High School’s graduation ceremony in Redwood City on June 5, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray.
The program began with the student choir’s performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” followed by a welcome from Sequoia Principal Sean Priest, first in Spanish, then in English. Almost half of all students at Sequoia are Hispanic or Latino, and about 15% enrolled as English Learners, most of whom speak Spanish, according to a 2026 report by the Sequoia Union High School District.
Associated Student Body President Elizabeth Madden was the first student speaker. She recalled her first day on campus as a freshman on Aug. 17, 2022, when she texted her mom that she was “so scared I think I might throw up.” With time, she said, “things that once felt intimidating felt familiar.”
Madden said her peers learned “the important things,” like which teachers kept snacks, and that some of the most useful lessons she learned were outside of the classroom. Kindness, courage and connection are what made Sequoia feel like home to Madden.
Yu then took to the podium.
He remembers “coming into high school as a scrawny, little freshman,” and how he used to think the seniors were “big, bad and scary.” Today, he can confirm that, as a senior, he’s “neither big, nor bad, nor scary, and I’m still scrawny.”
Yu encourages his peers to be proud of “how much crap you dealt with” and to remember that his class will be defined not by the grades they earned but by the experiences and relationships they created.
Graduating senior Lucia Niño-Sears addressed the crowd, reflecting on the power of Sequoia students’ recent protest against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The protest, she said, was especially meaningful to her as a Latina and daughter of immigrants.
”As a community, we’re stronger,” she said, adding that “silence won’t protect you.”
Diana Maganda Rosales, another senior speaker, shared that, as a first-generation immigrant, she found a sense of belonging through Sequoia’s Dream Club, which provides resources and guidance to undocumented students and community members.
Other students also underscored the value of connection. Graduate Samantha Vasquez said she wouldn’t be standing there today without the people who carried her through her hardest moments. Through them, she learned that “compassion is not a weakness.”
“Here at Sequoia, friendship is not just the people you choose,” Vasquez said, “it is the people who show up in the small, ordinary moments.”
Priest prompted high school performers, athletes, jobholders and military enlistees to stand up, along with students headed to four-year college attendees. Nearly two dozen students rose when Priest welcomed students who were the first in their families to graduate high school to stand.
He read aloud a sealed letter he wrote nearly four years ago, on the first day of school at Sequoia for this graduating class.
“Frankly, our school culture needs a spark,” he wrote, in reflection of the post-COVID pandemic transition. “You seem genuinely excited to be here.”
The class of 2026 exceededPriest’s expectations, he said, pointing to a Folklórico performance at a Sequoia High rally, the school’s showing in the Central Coast Section football final last year, the Northern California volleyball championship and the largest number of International Baccalaureate test-takers in the school’s history.
Over a hundred students earned scholarships and awards, including for or by the Career Technical Education, Digital Arts Academy, English, English Learner Development, Health Careers Academy, Mathematics, Media Center, Science, Social Studies, World Languages and Visual and Performing Arts.
Once every student had shaken the principal’s hand and received their diploma, families and friends stormed the field to celebrate the milestone for over 400 Sequoia seniors, with big whoops, smiles, noisemakers and confetti.
