GRADUATION SPHS 2026 | Congratulations to Our Outstanding Students & Community

There is a certain powerful-vibe of excitement that settles over South Pasadena in the first week of June every year. On Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at 5:00 p.m., that anticipation broke open into celebration as the South Pasadena High School Class of 2026 crossed the field at the SPHS Ray Solari Stadium to receive the moment they have spent years earning. Their diploma.

To every graduating Tiger — and to the parents, teachers, coaches, counselors, and neighbors who carried them here — congratulations.

The class chose “I Could Lift You Up” as its theme, borrowed from its class song, “Safe and Sound” by Capital Cities. It fits. This was a class that, by almost any measure, lifted the whole school with it.

A Ceremony Led By Its Own

This is a student-run send-off in the best sense. Senior Class President Mason Asakura opens the ceremony with the welcome; Vice President Sean Kang delivers the farewell; Secretary Elliot Matlock introduces the special guests; and Treasurer Allyson Bishop presents the class gift. Classmate Andres Urzua performed the National Anthem, with musical tributes “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up” by Scarlett Kirschenbaum and “Infinite Chances” by Mina Mannal.

Principal John Eldred presents the class, with diplomas conferred by Superintendent Dr. Angela Elizondo Baxter and Board of Education President Dr. Michele Kipke. The valedictorian and salutatorian are recognized by Commissioner of Academics Isabelle Huang. The evening closes, as tradition demands, with the school’s Alma Mater — music and lyrics by Richard Buck (’46) and Nancy Scharfe (’46) — and a recessional to “Safe and Sound.”

It all unfolded beneath the seal that has stood for Fair Play, Strength, Scholarship, and Leadership since the school opened its doors in 1906. Gates at the South Pasadena High School Stadium opened at 4:30 p.m.

Valedictorian — Alexa Chang and Salutatorian — Eileen Chen

A Hometown Welcome at Baccalaureate

The week’s festivities began Sunday, May 31, with Baccalaureate at Anderson Auditorium, an evening of student performances, reflections, and a keynote with a uniquely South Pasadena resonance. This year’s speaker was Terry Madigan, President of the 2027 Pasadena Tournament of Roses — and an SPHS alum himself, who first found his footing driving the City of South Pasadena’s float in the Rose Parade as a teenager. The theme he later chose for the 2027 Rose Parade, “Welcome,” grew out of exactly that hometown sense of belonging, making him a fitting voice to send off the next class of Tigers. Seniors performed throughout the night, from a heartfelt “Wake Me Up” to a joyful “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” before closing remarks from Mason Asakura.

The celebrating didn’t stop on June 3, either: the class heads to Grad Nite at Disney California Adventure on Sunday, June 7.

A Championship Year on The Field – Here’s a Short Sample of Highlights

The Class of 2026 leaves campus as part of one of the proudest athletic stretches in recent Tiger memory.

The SPHS football team, under head coach Jeff Chi, captured its second consecutive outright Rio Hondo League championship, sealing it with a commanding 48–6 win over Temple City. The Tigers carried that momentum deep into the CIF–Southern Section Division 11 playoffs, beating San Marcos and storming Palmdale on the road in the rain before falling in the semifinals — the fourth time in five seasons South Pasadena has reached that stage. Senior running back Treyton “Trey” Freking was the engine of it all, the kind of every-down workhorse and leader coaches build programs around.

On the hardwood, senior Rod Khollesi rewrote the SPHS boys’ basketball record book. The 6-foot-5 standout poured in a school-record 52 points in a single game, finished with 768 points on the year and 201 made free throws — a total ranked among the best in the nation — while averaging better than 27 points a game for a young, rebuilding Tiger squad, all while carrying a 3.8 GPA.

Scholars, Makers, and Artists – A Few of the Many Stand-Outs This Year

Bookending the sports achievements are the scholastic and performance successes.

In business, the SPHS Virtual Enterprise team took its student-run company, DinoCooking, to the national Youth Business Summit in New York City, where Reuben Martin-Weinstein earned Silver in the Sales Pitch competition, Rachel Yu brought home Silver in Global Innovation, and Chloe Moon won Bronze for a social media campaign — while the company’s e-commerce site ranked in the top 10% nationally, under teacher Janna Conner.

The SPHS Drama program packed Anderson Auditorium this spring with the Broadway musical “Mean Girls,” directed by Nick Hoffa — the latest in a celebrated run of productions that draw the whole town. And the school’s prestigious ‘Tiger Newspaper‘, established in 1913 and guided by adviser Karen Hames, continued a tradition of nationally recognized student journalism.

The honors kept coming:

• At the 2026 SkillsUSA California State Conference, the SPHS chapter earned a Gold Level Chapter rank; Mason Mackanic took first place statewide in the t-shirt design competition (his art worn by 5,000 attendees), and gold medalists Christopher Lau, Kaitlyn Lowstuter, Joy Kim, Sofiia Zabrodska, and Samantha Fang qualified for nationals, under adviser Sandra Matson-Fennell.
• Tigers Aiden Lee (viola), Justin Kim (clarinet), and Wilson Jaroch (horn) were selected for the 2026 California All-State music ensembles.
• Two SPHS students earned Gold and Silver Medals at the national level of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
• Future engineers in the Project Lead the Way Honors Engineering Design and Development capstone, taught by Garrett Shorr, presented original inventions to professional engineers.

It is a portrait of a class that competed, created, and led in nearly every arena a high school offers.

The South Pasadena Community That Works Together and Stands Strong

This congratulations extends beyond the graduates — to the city that backs them. Just one day before Baccalaureate, South Pasadena voters approved Measure SP, the South Pasadena Unified School District’s $128 million school-facilities bond, with more than 73% voting yes. The funds are dedicated to repairing and upgrading classrooms, labs, performing-arts spaces, technology, and campus safety across the district’s schools.

In a note to the community, SPUSD Board President Dr. Michele Kipke thanked residents directly, calling the result a reflection of “your confidence in the future of our schools,” and recognized the Yes on SP campaign committee, led by Emilia Aldana, for its outreach. In a town this size, a vote like that is its own kind of graduation gift — proof that the next class of Tigers will inherit even stronger schools than the ones they’re leaving.

To the Class of 2026

Behind every name below is a story — early-morning practices, late-night rehearsals, lab reports, deadlines, comebacks, and the quiet daily work of growing up. On June 3, all of it became a single walk across the Ray Solari Stadium turf and one very well-earned turn of the tassel.

A special word of thanks, too, to a few key educators who got them there: Principal John Eldred, Assistant Principals Chad Bryant and Vanessa Blackwood, Class Advisor James Jontz, Activities Director Casey Shotwell, and counselors Nora Hunter, Omar Jimenez, Joyce Ku-Rodriguez, Marcile Montoya, and Nan Ng.

From all of us at The South Pasadenan and the South Pasadena Foundation: Congratulations, Tigers. You lifted us up. The world is waiting for you.

Go Tigers. 🖤🧡

Special thanks to SPHS student Photographer Mac Shropshire for providing photos for this article:

Mac Shropshire is an aspiring photographer and junior at South Pasadena High School. Through his involvement with the school’s Tiger Newspaper as a photographer and photo editor, and his position as the ASB Leadership historian, Mac has learned to love the ins and outs of photography and its many benefits. As Mac plans for the future, he hopes to pursue a career in fine arts and photojournalism.

South Pasadena High School — Class of 2026 Graduates

The graduates of the Class of 2026, as listed in the official commencement program.