Photo Credit / Sophia Boismier
Around 6:20, family and friends start to trickle into Wings Stadium. With the band and orchestra playing music from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” vigorously on the main floor, light chatter continues as they wait to witness their loved ones graduate to the next steps of their lives.
At 7:00 p.m, the staff of Loy Norrix High School lead the first pair of seniors on their journey around the perimeter of the rink. As the names of the seniors were screamed by their friends and families as they passed, they waved and smiled as they made their way to their seats.
Graduation is the reason why students wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning, go to class for six hours and then stay up really late doing their homework, just to wake up with 5 hours of sleep to repeat the entire process for the next 4 years. Graduation is the reminder that all the hard work and late nights through the past 12 years was all worth it. Graduation is the moment that each senior gets their recognition before they head off into the adult world.
Koichi Anderson, Tre’ Thompson and Carsten Strand all gave moving speeches about the memories of high school and the bright future that is ahead.
As Strand led the class through the moving of the tassels, he recognized that high school is “a lesson” and serves to teach everyone that there is more to life then the drama and tests of high school, and graduation stands to show you on that path.
The Class of 2016, for the most part, has been together since Kindergarden. They have moved through each stage of their lives together, through the braces, bad-haircuts and breathtaking glow ups. Now as they all go their separate ways, high school serves as the remainder of the times they spent together through all the exams, stress and football games.
The ceremony ended with the Loy Norrix fight song, the anthem that rang at every pep rally and sports game to show the abundance of school spirit. As the song ended and the graduates became alumni, they will never forget that “Once a Knight, Always a Knight.”
