CLASS OF '99 DISCOVERS ITSELF UNDER MICROSCOPE OF HISTORY.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

Wes Clayton has arrived at his senior year of high school with nothing less than a century's hopes and dreams pinned to his every move.

It's a place in history he doesn't take lightly, despite the perception of a baggy-pants-wearing, skateboard-riding, generally slacking group of teens in contemporary history.

``My mom told me when I was a freshman, You're going to be so happy to be the last class of the century,'' said the 17-year-old Thousand Oaks High student. ``We have to be better than everyone else. We have to set the standard for those to come.''

The class of '99 will see the final pomp and circumstance before the 1900s end, the last toss of the hat before a new era begins. They sit on the cusp, closing out the old era as teens.

For Royal High senior Lucia Cusenza, it's just all a little much.

``They're always saying the children are our future - I always think of other children,'' the 16-year-old said, ``like my little cousins.''

Sure, there's a special class of '99 cheer at her school and even a little hand sign that looks like it could be a gang sign except it's done by student government leaders crimping their fingers into the two little number nines.

Other than that, she and her friends are more concerned about their own post-graduation plans and upcoming school activities than how history will judge their accomplishments.

``We're a bunch of goof-offs, that's what they think of all teen-agers,'' said Jennifer Grode, 16, referring to the adults watching their moves. ``I think everybody at one point in your life has to be a goof-off.''

Like it or not, history is keeping an eye on the class of '99, ready to hold the seniors up to its expectations of the era.

Among those keeping tabs is county Superintendent of Schools Chuck Weis, who said young people today are looked on as leaders of the emerging new era.

``These are kids we have high expectations for. I think they're going to meet them here and beyond,'' Weis said.

He points to local measures like the rising Scholastic Assessment Test scores, the main exam used for college admittance, that climbs year after year in Ventura County. And he points to broader trends, from the younger generation's ability to put up Web sites with a few quick clicks of a mouse to their capacity to absorb a complicated world with quick and accurate understanding.

``Every year, the kids seem to get more and more sophisticated, more and more brighter, more and more knowledgeable about everything,'' Weis said. ``I think there's a lot of Bill Gateses out there.''

Put that way, many seniors agree.

Lucia, the Royal senior, and her friends Jennifer Grode and Sara Hwang, 17, say they know they are aware of way more information in the world around them than previous generations.

For example, they say, they can see a media blitz coming a mile away, they understand how to get along with a wide range of racial and social classes and know that what's important in life is that you're happy.

Not bad, said Lucia, who offers another thought about her place in history: ``I think we have a lot to offer the new millennium.''

Royal high senior Justin A. Smith, whose dream job would be something to do with robotics, has given his place in history a little thought over the years and thinks it's pretty cool.

``I think we're a standard for change. Everyone's going to look back on the class of '99 and say, how are we different from them in both the good and the bad,'' he said. ``It's kind of important. It's a landmark.''

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PHOTO (Color in Simi Edition only) Royal High class of '99 members Michelle de Aramas and Sara Hwang, right, share laughs with fellow senior Scott Rice at school.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News