Lindbergh High School senior Kevin Taul overcame much adversity to make it to graduation. He called himself a bad kid in middle school, suspended multiple times, forced to go to an alternative school and eventually arrested before the start of the eighth grade.
Taul was with the wrong kids at the wrong time, he said. They had robbed a man and beat him up. He was in Federal Way at the time, an unfamiliar city and didn’t know where to go, so he was arrested with his friends and sent to jail.
“So once I started high school I already knew what I wanted to do to not go back,” Taul said. “So it just kind of changed my mind set and I just started finding new friends that were really positive.”
Taul found a love for football and stuck to his studies to become one of the 242 students to graduate from the high school on Tuesday.
All three of Renton School District’s comprehensive high schools held their graduations at ShoWare Center in Kent Tuesday. About 757 students graduated in all.
“Right now I feel relieved and accomplished because I’ve been through so much from a little kid to now,” said Taul.
He is the first in his single-parent family of six to graduate from high school. Taul is going to Green River Community College in the fall and plans to transfer to a four-year college to study to be a personal trainer or physical therapist.
Lindbergh Principal Tres Genger said Taul has left an indelible mark on a lot of his instructors from elementary through high school to reach this point.
“My hope for the class of 2011 and the other classes that come out of Lindbergh High School, is that they go out and represent our community in the world of work and in their personal lives with integrity, responsibility and accountability that they’ve shown in their term in high school,” Genger said.
Lindbergh’s class of 2011 had more than $1.4 million in scholarships.
The Givers
Hazen High School Principal John Kniseley called the school’s graduating class “the givers” for their generous fund-raising for local and international causes over their four years. The students have given to natural disaster relief efforts around the world, local food drives and played a part in helping raise money for the Hazen pool.
“So I think as far as giving, they’ve done a lot for not only the community, but the world,” Kniseley said.
Not only have students given, but they’ve also received $2.7 million in scholarships.
One of those students who’s given back as a role model and received many scholarships is Giovanni Trujillo.
Kinseley said he remembers Trujillo from his first day at the school for being kicked out of an assembly for being obnoxious. During the course of four years, Trujillo has turned his life around and gone down to the middle school to tell students about it. He also dressed up in a tie once a week at Hazen and set the tone for other students, his principal said.
Trujillo said he overcame bad choices and stupid mistakes with friends, drugs and bad grades in general.
“Today’s a great day,” he said. “I didn’t think that I was going to make it and I just want to be an example for everybody that thinks that they can’t make it because of the color of their skin or because of where they’ve from or how they’ve grown up.”
RHS Centennial
The 2011 graduating class of Renton High School was special because this is the school’s centennial year.
“When we talk about our motto of pride, tradition and excellence, this class is leaving a legacy that for the next 100 years people will try to match up to what they accomplish this year,” said Damien Pattenaude, principal.
Two years ago the school had just about $650,000 in scholarships. This year they have more than $2.85 million.
Pattenaude said amongst Renton High’s students some have overcome tremendous obstacles from homelessness to struggling in school and putting it all together to graduate.
Students Irene Muller and John Mehlhaff composed an original song they performed with other students for Renton’s centennial. They had an option to choose a previously recorded song, but chose to go with their own work called “This Year.”
Muller said the class is really creative pointing to their multi-cultural and talent shows.
“So, I think it’s really right for us to make something together to present to the whole class and the whole stadium at graduation,” she said. “We don’t imitate, we create.”
Graduates poured into the courtyard in front of ShoWare Center after graduation and were immediately mobbed by family and friends bearing flowers, balloons and gifts. Muller and other students mugged for pictures with family and friends.
