(Bellflower, California) – As St. John Bosco High School celebrates Homecoming 2026, the school is honoring a milestone in its history: 70 years since its first high school graduating class crossed the stage in 1956. Through archival yearbook photos, reflections from the school’s earliest graduates, and messages from its founding years, this retrospective celebrates the traditions, friendships, faith, and brotherhood that have shaped generations of Bosco Braves. From the 16 young men who first graduated to today’s students and alumni, the Bosco story continues to inspire.
Editor’s Note: The content below was originally published on the official social media page of St. John Bosco High School.
1956 was the year so much of what we now recognize as Bosco began.
The first high school graduating class walked across the stage, the first yearbook captured life on campus, and the first football team took the field.
In fact, that first yearbook described those 16 graduates as the “pioneers” of a school whose story was only beginning.
Seventy years later, that story is still being written. As we looked through the yearbooks from ’56, ’76, ’86, ’96, ’06, and ’16, something remarkably familiar ran through each of them: the friendships, school spirit, traditions, and brotherhood that have always made Bosco, Bosco.
From the 1956 Yearbook
With the coming of June the sixteenth, our first seniors will be leaving St. John Bosco High. To graduate from a college preparatory high school is indeed a great accomplishment, but to these young men it will mean something more than just this.
These young men are the pioneers of a school which will be recalled by them for many years to come; they are the first graduating class of our beloved Alma Mater.
Our sixteen graduates came to us with one purpose in mind: to receive the best possible education. Here at Don Bosco, the priests and brothers were taught with this purpose in mind. They offer the boys the best education possible nowadays. They prepare them to face the problems of life well and with a good Catholic attitude. These young men will be capable of taking and holding a good position. They will be ready to take their place in a community as good Catholic gentlemen and thus make good citizens.
Some may return at times to pay their respects to their former teachers and superiors; others may never see our Alma Mater again. But to every one of them, we, the rest of the student body, wish to express our sincere congratulations for their fine accomplishments.
Letter from the Director
Office of the Director
June 11, 1956
My dear Graduates,
You are the first!
May you remain first!
The first seniors of St. John Bosco High. The first to pass through the portals of this school into adult life as graduated students.
May you remain first in remembering the lessons that St. John Bosco has taught you: lessons of the mind … and heart … and soul.
It is not so much what your knowledge is and who you are as what you are. For what you are today, you owe gratitude to God, to your parents, to your teachers. Never forget, dear graduates, that you are just a tiny part of a great world made by God—not by man—and that the same Maker wants you home with Him someday.
Be first in the service of your country, your family, your God.
Without humility and the sincere conviction that of yourself you can do nothing, you will never amount to much. True greatness is in humility.
May your knowledge go with you on this your graduation day. What you know is henceforth not to be shut up in your textbooks on nights, Saturdays, and vacations; not to be folded away in your high school diploma. No! Your torch of learning, however faint, must be kept alight—it must now pass from theory into practice, then from your hand to your neighbor’s, and on from race to race.
May God, His Mother, and your patron, St. John Bosco, go with you!
Yours, with a blessing,
Rev. John J. Malloy, S.D.B.
Director
The First Bosco Football Team
During the 1955–56 school year, Don Bosco High fielded its first football team. Although the team faced many difficulties, including the expense of equipment and the players’ inexperience, it performed well, finishing with a record of three wins and four losses.
As we had only four senior players in our lineup, a great number of lettermen will be returning next year. Under the careful guidance of our fine coaching staff, we look forward to a fine year in the Olympic League.
From ’56 to ’26, generations of Braves have been part of the same story. A story of brotherhood, of purpose, of faith, and of belonging. A story about a place that stays with you long after graduation.
