Magnolia Park School Class of 2007:Journeys end in pride at Magnolia

Before he hit the ninth grade, 17-year-old Michael Valencia did not think he would graduate high school.

He suffered from severe behavioral and emotional problems for as long as he could remember.

In the third grade, he was sent to Magnolia Park School, which specializes in educating and providing mental health services to students from elementary through high school.

On Wednesday afternoon, Michael participated in a small graduation ceremony at the school with four other high school students.

"If you would have asked me when I first came here or was in the eighth grade if I thought I was going to graduate, I would have said, 'Nah,'" Michael said. "But I found where I was going. I became focused."

He plans to attend Los Angeles Valley College in the fall and then go on to study comparative literature at UC Berkley.

Though he is excited about his future, Michael said he was going to miss his teacher, Randall Badders, and students he bonded with over the four years of his high school studies at Magnolia Park School.

Badders said Michael has come a long way. And he's not the only one.

Before coming to Magnolia Park and doing dual-enrollment at John Burroughs High School, 18-year-old Ezra Chobaz suffered from severe depression and behavioral problems. But after therapy and classes at both Magnolia Park and Burroughs high, his mother, Beth Schneider, said he's a more responsible, stable person.

"This whole family has come a long way," Schneider said.

Chobaz still doesn't quite know what he wants to do now that high school is over. Even though his mental health is in a better place, he still doesn't have it all figured out, he said.

"It hasn't hit me really yet," Chobaz said. "I'm scared. Growing up, being an adult, is nothing like being a kid."

High school graduation marks the end of four years worth of homework, classwork, tests and term papers; and the students at Magnolia Park plowed the same road the rest of the high school students in Burbank did, Principal Sid Jurman said.

"No free ride — that was our policy," Jurman said. "You're going to have to do it the same way as everyone else. That was important to [the students]. It made the diploma meaningful."

The diploma is not only meaningful for the students, Jurman said, but also for the parents, some of whom may have almost given up hope of seeing their children graduate high school.

"I just think that sometimes parents feel that when their kids are ill, they think, 'Will this ever happen?'" he said, referring to graduation day. "When they get to see their kids promote, it's much deeper."

The entire high school class at Magnolia Park School graduated this year, all on time, with all of them taking classes at Burbank or Burroughs high school and Magnolia Park.

Magnolia Park School Class of 2007 Graduates

Alin Boughousi

Ezra Chobaz

Jovy Kelly

Alison Ranshaw

Michael Valencia