JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune After delivering her valedictory address and receiving her diploma Friday from Grossmont High School, Jackie Ho had her picture taken with her grandmother, Nhung Trang, by her stepfather, Jerry Nguyen. NELVIN CEPEDA / Union-Tribune Because they are seniors, Lena Kaplun (left) and Galen O'Sullivan were among the first students to receive their yearbooks Friday at Patrick Henry High. Online: For more photos of graduation events, go to uniontrib.com/more/ritesofpassage.

Jacaranda trees cling to their last blooms. Skies are socked in all morning. Days are getting longer.

It must be June.

For nearly 30,000 high school seniors throughout San Diego County, this is graduation season, a long-awaited time of celebration that includes traditions and rites of passage, both serious and silly.

There are valedictory speeches to write, senior luncheons and award ceremonies to attend and annual pranks to pull off.

Then there are all those “lasts”: the last yearbooks to sign, the last final exam to get through, the last day of school.

For some, the reality may hit during commencement practice, when an administrator with a bullhorn attempts to choreograph the event. Maybe, it will happen at “grad night,” the traditional party following graduation. Perhaps some need the piece of paper, a diploma that says, “I did it.”

Congratulations.

Instant gratification

CHULA VISTA: Palomar High School holds dozens of graduation ceremonies. Any day at the continuation school can be graduation day.

For years now, the school has taken an instant-gratification approach. The moment a student walks the paperwork to the counselor's office to get final academic credits approved, his or her graduation is scheduled for the next class break.

Students get a purple cap and gown, a diploma and what the school calls a lifetime warranty. That means former Palomar students can return for life to use the computer lab or to get free tutoring.

The ceremony starts when an employee rings a brass bell behind the attendance counter. The principal announces the graduate's name on the school's public address system. Then, at the break, students and teachers swarm into the school lobby with hugs and high fives for the graduate.

“Sometimes it's hard not to cry,” multimedia teacher Sofia Urbanski said.

Palomar is a school where students go when they fall behind. Students proceed at their own pace, so they don't finish at the same time.

The individual recognition serves several purposes, Principal Denise Harder said. “Number one, it's for the students, because some of these students don't go through their (traditional) graduation ceremony. It's also for the (other) students to know it can be done.”

– Chris Moran

Hardcover time capsule

SAN DIEGO: For seniors, the annual yearbook is perhaps the most treasured high school memento, where teenage hairstyles, clothing trends and culture will live forever.

Senior portraits are the most celebrated class pictures in these thick, hardcover, themed books. Prom, homecoming and student government are prominently recorded. Candid photos might capture the levity of a passing moment.

But all the drama, the inside jokes and the romances of high school are often best recorded in the personal inscriptions from friends.

“Most people go around and get everyone they know and everyone they kind of know to sign their yearbook,” said Galen O'Sullivan, a senior at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego.

“So they don't look like a loser when their kids read them,” chimed in Lena Kaplun, also a senior.

Some seniors reserve whole pages for their best buddies. When it comes to putting pen to a page, many put a lot of thought into writing something that is deep, clever or seemingly spontaneous.

“It could be the last thing you ever say to someone and you want it to be meaningful,” said James Rick, 17, a senior.

In a culture where the preferred mode of communication is text-messaging, it may be the only thing they write to a classmate.

– Maureen Magee

The sword in the stone

SAN MARCOS: Alex McCoy remembers her freshman year and navigating a “tunnel” formed by athletes and cheerleaders to touch a 4-foot sword impaled in a boulder.

The ceremony “knighted” her class of 2008 into San Marcos High School, where the school mascot is the knight. At today's commencement, McCoy, 18, the senior class president, and her classmates will again touch the sword in the stone. This time it will mean they have become adults.

“Pride will be the thing I'll be feeling,” said McCoy, who will attend Cal State San Marcos.

Her class is the first one to touch the sword twice. The ritual started with the class of 2003.

Former principal Nancy Peterson, now a district administrator, said the pageantry promotes campus values such as responsibility, determination and excellence.

A knight will circle the football field on a horse today A teacher wearing medieval clothing will read the “Legend of the Knight,” about courageously fighting for what's right. Juniors will perform a sword show.

As Principal Julie Mottershaw said, “We want them to take away the values instilled in them forever.”

– Linda Lou

Bittersweet ending

VISTA: At the 20th graduation practice at Rancho Buena Vista High School last week, 724 seniors sat in rows of white plastic chairs, chatting with classmates and waiting for their teachers to get organized.

“We tell them throughout the year that graduation is a formal event,” said Kelly McKinnie, the school's activities director. “We want to make sure they understand the routine so . . . it's flawless.”

Three teenage girls sat in the front row. Melissa Tobia, 17, is headed for the University of California Davis to study psychology. Nicole Gilbert, 18, is off to Arizona State University and journalism classes. Evette Gomez, 17, will go to UC Irvine and major in biology.

Their summer vacations will be filled with travels with a softball league, a family vacation in Europe and a road trip to Northern California. Bright futures lay ahead, but behind them were their childhoods.

“It's kind of a bittersweet feeling,” Melissa said.

Over a loudspeaker, a teacher reminded the seniors to pick up their cap and gown. Don't forget to bring your identification to the ceremony. Return those errant textbooks and overdue library books.

Up in the bleachers, a handful of wistful juniors watched. Most said they would miss their friends.

“This is so sad,” Jessica Whitling, 16, said. “It seems so surreal.”

– Bruce Lieberman

'Speak from the heart'

LA MESA: Jackie Ho was honored when her principal came to her physics class to announce she had been named valedictorian of her Grossmont High graduating class.

But she also felt the pressure that comes with preparing the valedictory speech for commencement.

Like any 18-year-old about to graduate, Ho had a lot of memories. Her classmates would never be together like this again.

Ho, the oldest of four children in a single-parent household in City Heights, would herself be leaving for UCLA.

She looked at her speech as a farewell, but she didn't know how to begin.

And then it came to her. Not the exact words but where they would come from.

One evening she went with a friend to a youth group meeting at a San Diego church. She shared her struggle and was moved by what the group's adviser told her: “Be honest” and “Speak from the heart.”

On Friday she delivered her speech to more than 500 seniors at the school's stadium, reminding them that this was their moment and not to be afraid of the future.

She thanked her mother, “my hero,” and wished her a happy birthday.

Then she said, “Hopefully a moment like this is the greatest gift I can give you.”

– Leonel Sanchez