The Gooden School in Sierra Madre graduated its 8th-grade class last Friday. Salutatorian Julia Divers and valedictorian Minta Sloan spoke of their strong memories of Gooden and their teachers and classmates. Sloan, who will attend Alverno Heights Academy, added that as they grew up together, “One thing has remained the same; the bond we all have with each other and the care we have for one another.”
Father Francisco Garcia, the school’s chaplain and a newly minted Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt University, exhorted the students to give back to their communities as they move on to high school and beyond. He quoted from the Book of Luke, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”
Gooden’s class of 2019 will attend local independent, selective public, and boarding schools: Alverno Heights, California School of the Arts, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Flintridge Preparatory School, La Salle College Preparatory, Loyola High School, Marshall Fundamental School, Mayfield Senior School, St. Francis High School, Polytechnic School and the Webb Schools.
