To celebrate the achievements of graduating seniors, families and faculty gathered in the Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m. May 20 and awarded cords and sashes to the students. According to school officials, 330 seniors were invited to the ceremony and approximately 250 seniors attended including valedictorian Elizabeth Chaison and salutatorian Darek Zhang.
Counselor Melissa Wood, Career and College Coordinator Megan Wolske and Associate Principal Amanda Thompson and other administrative staff helped to set up the stage the night of the event.
“On March 1. I sent out a spreadsheet to all the teachers that have organizations on campus, whose students will be receiving awards, to put their information in,” Dean of Instruction Joann Tanzer said. “We spent at least half a day going through making sure the slides were accurate. We spent another half a day printing certificates and getting them in the folders. And then another half a day doing final checks.”
The organizers of the event spent a small amount of money on decorations and certificates since either students or clubs paid for the cords and other awards.
“Every year we try to make it a little more personable,” Tanzer said. “This year, one thing we did differently is that no groups could give out their chords that were in honor societies any other time. A lot of them have special end of the year ceremonies and parties and we don’t want to water it down. We want everybody to be there and to participate. We don’t just want to recognize just the kids that have straight A’s, but that are doing electrical, CTE or cosmetology. Things that take a lot of time and effort. A big thing for this campus is that we want to celebrate all the accomplishments.”
