Ulysses S. Grant Senior High School Principal Rebecca McMurrin was beyond proud as she looked back at what the 2025 graduates went through as teenagers during the COVID pandemic and their journey to move beyond it and succeed. She recalls, “We talked with our masks on, so we didn’t even know what they looked like. But our students got to know each other through class conversations and assignments.”

The school was recently renovated, and the 2025 class was the first to have new classrooms, science rooms, art studios and drama classrooms. McMurrin said the students “loved it. People think of LAUSD as kind of old, so the (students) were at a campus that was rebuilt for the 21st century.”

She praised the nearly 400 graduates and said that valedictorian Artashes Kasabyan, who is heading to UCLA, told his fellow graduates, “Being optimistic despite uncertainty in the world around us” is the path to take.

Principal McMurrin marveled at the efforts by students at Grant High, where she said “we have 29 languages.” With so many backgrounds and languages at the school, she said, “It’s amazing how they can thrive together.”

The modest principal didn’t mention that in May she received national honors, named Principal of the Year by the Magnet Schools of America.