Proud family members, friends and relatives filled the grandstand at Westlake High School's Warrior Stadium last Thursday on a sunsoaked Southern California day to celebrate the 539 members of the graduating Class of 2006.

Running with the theme from Dr. Seuss's beloved children's book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go," the event featured musical performances, poetry and one powerful message from the assistant principal that spoke volumes about the potential of this year's graduates.

According to Assistant Principal Richard Urias, who delivered a message to the class on behalf of Principal Ron Lipari-who had to leave early to watch his son, Jeffrey, graduate from Thousand Oaks High School, Westlake's Class of 2006 is living behind a one-of-a-kind legacy.

"From top to bottom, they are the most complete group of kids- in terms of being outstanding people and students-that we may have ever had here at Westlake," Urias said. "So many of them have done so many things for this community on a personal level . . . just their maturity and their intelligence stands out to me."

Speaking during the ceremony were senior class president Julie Oh, senior Rebecca Gindi as well as fellow seniors Deidre Behar and Ashley Wasser, who combined forces to write their own version of the Dr. Seuss classic. A signal of our technologically-changing times, they concluded their humorous piece with the remark, "And remember, we're only a MySpace comment away," referring to the popular social networking website.

In addition to the musical accompaniment of director Kyle Luck and Westlake's instrumental ensemble, the event also featured a performance by the school's choral group, A Class Act, which sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the 1945 musical, "Carousel."

Seniors David Augustyn, Caitlin Bishop, Emily Goglia and Megan Macmillan then teamed up to sing the always uplifting "Lean on Me," written by Bill Withers and made famous by the 1989 movie with Morgan Freeman of the same name. Augustyn strummed the tune on his guitar while the others sang.

The final vocal performers of the afternoon were graduates Dean Lang and Kristen Rose, who brought the crowd to its feet with an awe-inspiring version of "The Prayer."

This year's valedictorian from Westlake is Andrew Chin. The salutatorian is Soo Yeon Kang.

Attending the event were Superintendent Robert Fraisse and school board members Pat Phelps and Dorothy Beaubien. Assistant Superintendent Jeff Barstaad also took part.