Los Altos grads celebrate years of growth, resilience and freedom to think for themselves

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Overcoming challenges, learning invaluable lessons, a pursuit of aspirations and the perseverance to navigate any storm. That’s what Los Altos High School’s graduating class is all about.

At least, that’s what ChatGPT thinks.

Laying the cliches on thick with the help of AI-generated content at the graduation ceremony on Thursday, June 6, student speaker Aarthi Venkatraman got a good laugh out of the crowd with what she described as a pretentious speech that, only after the fact, did she reveal had been put together by OpenAI’s flagship product, ChatGPT.

It was a clever subversion of expectations in the middle of an otherwise classic graduation ceremony. It had the pomp and circumstance, glowing praise from school and district officials and a fairly modest hat toss that wrapped up the late afternoon’s events. But it wasn’t without a point. Venkatraman went on to say (in a real speech this time) that students leaving Los Altos High can’t predict the future or draft a perfect plan for handling future challenges, but they’ve nevertheless been outfitted with the tools to succeed.

During their four years in high school, the graduating class benefitted from dedicated teachers, parents and fellow students, instilling in them values of integrity and empathy and — contrary to the generic speech ChatGPT spat out — the ability to think for themselves.

“No piece of advice can account for the wide and diverse array of challenges we’ll continue to face. But as I’ve learned, sticking to someone else’s prewritten script only leads to insincerity and boredom anyway,” she said.

The hundreds of students that poured onto the field Thursday had an unusual route through high school, deeply and irrevocably disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, school shutdowns, remote work and a very cautious return to the classroom. The Class of 2024 was taught an important lesson at a young age, said Sanjay Dave, school board president of the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, which is that life and the future are full of uncertainty.

“But despite this uncertainty, they showed strength and resilience,” Dave said. “You continue to learn and grow when the world seemed to be falling apart.”

Principal Tracey Runeare, who joined the district last fall, said she only had one year to get to know the graduating class, but that she was openly welcomed by the student body and was confident that teachers at Los Altos High provided students with an “excellent” education. Particularly coming out of the pandemic in their freshman year, students today are now stronger, more compassionate and more empathetic.

“You have lived what it means to be flexible and adapt to change,” she said.

Runeare highlighted that, among the more interesting feats, almost half of the graduating seniors (226) have been recognized as being biliterate in English and one or more other languages. And 11 of the students walking to receive their diplomas had arrived from countries like El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and Ukraine, and managed to knock out their graduation requirements while still learning English.

Student Brennon Holleb, serving as one of the masters of ceremony, underscored that students in the Class of 2024 have been passionate, hard-working and outgoing, and have developed something akin to “superpowers” through their strengths. With so much going on the world, from climate change and advanced AI to geopolitical tensions, he said graduating seniors will face elements of adversity, stress and fear, but are poised to handle them well.

“When these challenges stand in our way, we can all look back at our time throughout these four years and use the lessons learned to help us get through them,” he said.

Anika Mehrotra, the second speaker in the pair of masters of ceremony, touted that the superpowers – not invisibility or telekinesis – are not just manifested in individual strengths but in the collective talents of an entire generation that is poised to make a difference.

Student speaker Samuel Cousins described the class as a collection of thinkers, speakers, artists and friends, but also creators that have forged paths for themselves over their shared experience at Los Altos High.

Check out this year’s list of Los Altos High School graduates and read our interview with Farida Abd el hak, one of the graduating seniors.

For all of our graduation coverage, go to our central graduation page.