Morro Bay High School celebrates Class of 2021 with sunny ceremony
Morro Bay High School celebrated the Class of 2021 on Wednesday evening with a sunny commencement ceremony at its football stadium.
Under clear skies, the school honored a total of 188 graduating seniors clad in blue caps and gowns. Nearly two-thirds of the new graduates will head off to community college.
The ceremony was accented by air horns, confetti and shouts from proud parents.
This year’s Pirates valedictorian is Margaret Muff, who earned a 4.64 grade point average, according to school officials. She will attend UCLA in the fall, majoring in microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics on a pre-medical studies track.
Salutatorian Olivia Fernflores, who posted a 4.54 GPA, will study bioinformatics and biological systems engineering at the University of Arizona Honors College.
Of the Morro Bay High graduates, 117 students will attend a community college. That’s 63% of the Class of 2021.
A total of 55 students will attend a four-year college, and six students will enlist in the military.
Nine graduates will either enter a trade or career school or take a year off to travel or work.
Morro Bay High alumni will attend California State University schools such as Cal Poly, CSU Humboldt, CSU Monterey Bay, CSU Sacramento, CSU San Francisco and CSU San Diego, or University of California schools including UCLA, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz.
Some will head out of state to universities including the University of Oregon, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Arizona and Texas A&M.
A total of 67 Morro Bay High students were awarded scholarships totaling $151,750 locally and $422,350 in non-local funds.
Notable scholarship awards come from the following funding sources:
▪ Mable Vierthaler Memorial Scholarship: $10,000 (four Morro Bay students awarded)
▪ The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County, Alfred I., Catherine J. and Eleanor G. Switzer Scholarship: $10,000
▪ The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County, Yeager Science Scholarship: $23,000
▪ Northern California Scholarships Foundation: $32,000
▪ Harvey Scholarship at the Colorado School of Mines: $168,000 (across four years)
▪ University of Arizona Honors College Scholarship: $161,000 (across four years).
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 7:26 PM.
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