High school graduation is a time when students celebrate their achievements while looking to the future. It is a pivotal life moment as they prepare to spread their wings and face their next adventure.
It was particularly special this spring for the “Class of 2020” at Portola High School, as the school celebrated its inaugural graduating class at the campus, which first opened in 2016 within Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine.
Graduating art students Lexi Teats (pictured above at left) and Maddy Noh (right), in collaboration with art teacher Kearci Moir and FivePoint, put their creativity on display by designing a colorful 7’x14’ banner featuring two sets of wings that included the names of all graduating students. The banner was installed near the gymnasium of the school, adjacent to where students picked up their yearbooks in early June.
As word got out about the banner, pairs of students posed in front of it and shared their pictures with family and friends from around the world through social media.
Portola High School is also looking to integrate the banner into an in-person ceremony to honor students later in the summer. The school, one of five comprehensive high schools in the Irvine Unified School District, hosted a virtual graduation ceremony in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Portola High School is the newest public high school in Irvine, and was built as part of a public-private partnership between FivePoint’s joint venture, The Irvine Company, and Irvine Unified School District.