Is it really time for graduation already?

I’m sure our seniors don’t think their last year of school went by very quickly. But from my perspective, it just flew. In fact, we’re already busy working on the coming school year.

The Class of 2010 is a big one. There will be 770 students entering the Cintas Center to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance. Graduation is Saturday, June 5, which is a change from our recent practice of Sunday graduations.

There is more that is new this year. Billy Smith will present the senior class for graduation for the first time as our high school principal. He knows these students well. His first two years as an administrator, first as dean of students and then as assistant principal, were at the Middle School. That was when these students were in seventh and then eighth grade. Then he rejoined them this year as he took over as high school principal. The same kids, but they had grown up.

David Helms is the assistant principal with responsibility for the senior class, and I know he will also be watching them proudly as they graduate.

Something really new this year is how the quest for the top spot in the class finished. Five students – Richard Davis, Nina Kosaric, Robert Lopina, Cameron Terrell, and Greg Vinson – are all co-valedictorians. They all achieved identical 4.540 grade point averages. Nina and Jonathan Stupak also achieved recognition as finalists in the National Merit Scholarship program, and Cameron, Robert, Greg and Kathryn Schmahl were National Merit Commended Students.

Vivian Chang and Logan Brooks are co-salutatorians, with identical 4.490 grade point averages.

I’ve had the opportunity to get to know many of these students. They are a wonderful group of young men and women who not only excel in the classroom, but are very heavily involved in extracurricular activities as well. I know many of them, in addition to all they do at school, also serve in the community outside of school. Many are very active where they worship. Their calendars probably are just as busy as mine, except they’re still at that age where they can keep it all in their heads.

Sixty-one of our seniors are graduating with highest honors, summa cum laude, with a grade point average of 4.0 or higher. There are 74 students graduating magna cum laude, with a grade point average of 3.6 to 3.999. And 108 more are graduating cum laude, with a grade point average of 3.2 to 3.599.

The class has won millions of dollars in scholarships. The Fairfield Community Foundation awarded 49 scholarships, to 44 seniors. The foundation is still very young, as community foundations go, but is already making a big difference in helping our young people find a way to further their education.

For the Class of 2010, Saturday is their day. Some overcame hurdles larger than you might imagine to be there. But what a wonderful, exciting time of life it is for all of them.

Published in the Fairfield Echo, June 3, 2010.