It was the annual Riverbank High School Senior Shout Out, hosted for the Class of 2023 on Friday, May 19. Maritza Alvarez, RHS Counselor, organized the ceremony this year.

AVID District Director and Instruction Coach Nancy Garcia said, “This ceremony celebrates the senior students’ commitment to pursuing college and career goals beyond high school. We started this tradition several years ago to not only celebrate our seniors getting accepted and making commitments to furthering their educational journey, but also to light a spark for underclassmen and make them aware of the choices they have after high school so long as they start planning now.”

The AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, program helps many students decide on a course of study and provides inspiration to move on to higher education.

Garcia added they began the program as a way to focus on the future and success.

“At the time, so many of our students were failing to plan and we wanted to raise college and career awareness,” Garcia said.

Now, she said, the RHS students are “going places” and the implementation of the Shout Out Ceremony definitely helped emphasize life after high school.

Some of the colleges and universities the students have been accepted to and plan on attending are: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA and University of Southern California (USC).

Also, CSU Stanislaus State, CSU Fresno, CSU Sacramento, CSU San Francisco, Arizona State University, Ashworth College, University of Colorado Denver, University of Northwestern, William Penn University, Modesto Junior College, San Joaquin Delta College, Merced College, Columbia College, West Valley College, Folsom Lake College, Las Positas Community College and Sacramento City College.

Others will enter the military, including the Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard while others are ready to begin Trade School/Vocational Training at Institute of Technology, UEI College, Cal-Trade Welding, and Barber College.

Beauty schools that some students will attend include Paul Mitchell and CA Beauty College.