A part goes with them

Christine Carrillo

Ellen Butler is moving on.

Like the 226 Costa Mesa High School graduates she spoke to during

the commencement ceremony at Orange Coast College on Thursday

evening, she was leaving the campus behind, but not her memories.

Although Butler was leaving her high school teaching career

behind, she didn’t plan on leaving her former students off the hook

for one more lesson.

She wanted to give them lessons for the life that lie ahead.

“They are 100% responsible for what they do, feel and say. ...

Their lives are all in their own hands. I think that’s the greatest

thing you can learn in high school,” said Ellen Butler, who has

taught at the high school for 35 years.

For Butler, leaving Costa Mesa High behind her won’t be easy.

“These kids are awesome,” she said. “[They’re] what I’m going to

miss.”

Leaving the high school behind isn’t going to be easy for the

graduates, either.

“I’m really going to miss it ... the daily routine,” said

18-year-old David Pecoraro, who began his Costa Mesa High career as a

seventh-grader six years ago. “It’s been my home for so many years.

... My friends are here. I’m really going to miss it.”

Although their commencement garnered some sadness among them, it

represented a significant segment of the promising roads ahead.

“I’m very proud,” 17-year-old Anthony Sanchez said about his

academic achievement. “All of this [hard work] was for the future to

come.”

With the students so excited to have reached this point in their

young lives, their families couldn’t help but share in their joy.

“It’s an accomplishment she’s been working toward for 12 years,”

said 15-year-old Christina Hong, whose 19-year-old aunt, Kim Nguyen,

was among the graduates. “Today is the culmination of all that hard

work. We’re all really happy.”