Spring Formal
NHP offers a prom to its high school students either on campus or at a local restaurant. This themed dinner dance offers all the pomp and circumstance that a prom can have with live entertainment and a royal court.

Graduation
NHP’s graduation ceremony is like no other. Each student chooses a staff member with whom they’ve had a special relationship to “walk” them and introduce them to the audience. Students then have the opportunity to express themselves and give thanks to those who have helped them to this achievement. Many laughs and a few tears, for sure!

Excerpts From THGNHP Graduate Speeches 2012:

THG’s NHP Class of 2012 Valedictorian, Samantha Delgado:
GOOD MORNING GRADUATING CLASS OF 2012! And to our lovely families, friends, faculty, TA’s and teachers! I speak for myself and my fellow peers when saying that, “Although cramped we are in fact gleaming with joy to see that so many of you have made it to this wonderful stepping stone towards our futures.”

Being North Hills Prep’s Valedictorian of 2012 is honestly pretty nerve racking. I sometimes think I’ll forget how to breathe…but when I look back at my fellow peers and I see the strength in their appearance, and I see their faces – telling me to hurry up because they’re ready to celebrate, it reminds me that I can do this, that I will not forget to breathe. The support I have from my peers, and the support I’ve had from my family and friends, and the support that I have provided for myself! …Has always encouraged me to push forward, to keep going, and never quit.

As many of us have experienced, I too have had my fair share of downfalls, many deep downfalls. Through all the muck and mire I was in – dropping out, having absolutely all freedoms taken away from me, and for over a year and a half living in a desolate part of Utah with no familiar faces, to just name a few. I still kept my morals. A quote from Charles Bukowski explains what I mean the most deliberate terms. He states, “People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel or to love…” And I find that to be the truth because I never lost my ability to feel or love which I believe has always kept me from completely losing myself.

I did not attend pre-school, and tell you this solely because those cognitive years made up my principles for life. When I reflect on my childhood I realize how much I gained from learning with my mother, like my seemingly unlimited patience and drive to help others.

There is one specific memory that clings to me forever, it happened in one of the numerous buildings I grew up in. My grandfather just entered the door, grabbed a pair of his warmest slacks and headed toward the alley way just between the many surrounding buildings. My mother followed behind him, while I followed aimlessly behind her. They both had this aura of calmness and determination that tracked them. When we then arrived at the dumpsters I was more confused than ever, asking myself, “Why is my grandfather throwing away his slacks? They’re relatively new, and why is he doing it with a smile?” I quickly realized that his happiness didn’t transpire from throwing his slacks away but rather from giving them away, to the homeless man who resided on the side of the dumpster. My grandfather displayed the slacks and with horrible English and a hole in his trachea, asked the man to receive his gift, he said thank you with utmost appreciation. My grandfather took his hand and with genuine care replied with a scratchy “you’re welcome.” While walking back to that little apartment, I felt the joy and the happiness they both felt from helping one man and it influenced my entire self-being.

My main goal currently is to become an Art Therapist. So I too can help others in my own special way. I am confident that I will achieve that with ease. I am already registered and enrolled for the fall semester at Santa Monica College, and it is so uplifting to say that all of that was done independently!

I know through my eyes and mind that when I look upon my graduating class, I see strong, mighty sequoias. When I reflect upon my graduating class I see how we started; small fragile seeds with a hard exterior, and even harder personalities. We were able to withstand long cold winters of loneliness and dry harsh summers filled with drought. In our later years some tried to carve names into our bark, and although scarred, we hold our heads up with pride and strength in knowing that we overcame all those obstacles. But now we can support more than birds’ nests on these branches. Now we can hold those dearest to our hearts high up above the earth’s atmosphere. Now we can provide shade and comfort for those who need it, and now if we chose, we can even show other sapling sequoias that are stuck how to grow, to dig their roots deep into the cool fertilizing soil, take in its plentiful water, and learn how to live.

I would like to take the rest of my time to thank my wonderful parents who have never lost faith in me, my sister for being the silliest and best sibling I have, to the teachers and staff who have pushed me to my full potential and more, and to the greatest friend I have who never gave up on me through thick and thin and his welcoming family, my better half Aaron.

So graduating class of 2012 I ask you! Are you ready?...Then let the hour of commencement begin! NHP HURRAH!

THG’s NHP Class of 2012 Graduate Lauren Padilla:
Good morning. My name is Lauren and I’m so happy to be here today. I have been anticipating this day for a very long time. Four years ago I was a freshman and very new to high school. A long the way I have had some tough, yet life changing situations. High school wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Everything was a competition. I gained and lost many relationships along the way. I really didn’t know who I was, what I wanted, or what I was going to be. That was the hardest part for me. I didn’t know where to find these things. The “mountains” I thought I was climbing were actually little grains of sand. I always wanted to give up, and luckily I never did.

There have been many influential people I have met since I’ve been in high school, let alone The Help Group. Teachers, staff, and therapists at this school lead the way for me to find those invisible things I was searching for. I became a better person because I began to know what I wanted in my life. I now know who I am and I can’t tell you how good it feels. I’m so thankful for all the help I’ve received. My mom and dad have also always supported me even when things got rough between all of us. I’m so happy they stuck by me and didn’t give up, because there has been times when I thought we wouldn’t get through the hard times. I love all of you and thank you so much for dealing with me at my best and worst.

Now I’m ready to take that leap from high school to college, because what I’ve learned helped me realize it was the bad and ugly that built the person I am today. The person I am happy to be. It was the rocky times that made me realize what I like and what I don’t like. I would like to say I am a very thoughtful, caring, old fashioned girl. The career I choose to chase and succeed in is being a registered nurse. Right now I am a care giver trying to get a little experience in the field I would like to be in. I plan on going in to a nursing program right away.

I just want to thank everyone here at The Help Group for always giving me great advice and opinions, telling me to get in class when I wanted to socialize, and just trying to be here for me. Also I want to thank all of my family members for putting up with me, and helping me as much as they possibly can. Last but not least, I want to thank my mom for working so hard to give not only me but everyone in the family what we needed. She’s the strongest person I know and I just want to say thank you for so much. I am so grateful to have you. Thank you.