They made it: PUSD Class of 21 summer graduation held
Excitement appeared to buzz in the Porterville Military Academy Gymasium Friday morning as family and friends watched from the stands while cheering and calling out their respective students’ names as they were escorted into the gymnasium to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance.
The short, sweet and intimate ceremony was to commemorate the students’ graduations from Butterfield Charter High, Citrus High, Granite Hills High, and Strathmore High schools after completing any missing credits during a combined Porterville Unified School District Summer School session held at Butterfield Charter High School.
And once everyone was seated on stage, and counselor Raul Bermudez led everyone in the flag salute, PUSD summer school principal Dawn Crater greeted and thanked family, friends, instructors and principals in attendance before addressing the students in English. The same address was offered by Dr. Perla Soria in Spanish.
She also thanked and recognized staff who worked with the seniors during the summer.
“These people have been your children’s cheerleaders this summer,” Crater and Soria said separately before recognizing Janet Uresti for her many years of service to Butterfield and summer school.
“We are here to celebrate the Class of 2021 with tremendous joy and
enthusiasm,” Crater said. “This class has not only had to overcome many life and educational challenges, but most recently, society’s challenge of COVID19 — and this whole new thing we all know as distance learning. Therefore, this class deserves to graduate with the utmost recognition.”
Crater, and later Soria, talked to the graduates and audience in English and Spanish, respectively.
“Know that we are proud of you and look forward to seeing you in the next chapter of your life,” they said. “Class of 2021, we hope that the many learning opportunities, both academic and life lessons, you have had in the last four years set your life on a positive and productive trajectory. Congratulations.”
Presenting the candidates for graduation were Diane Rankin, SHS principal, Jacob Bowker, Granite Hills High School’s incoming principal, and Dawn Crater, Butterfield Charter High principal.
One by one, the student’s names were called, starting with Arturo Rojas and ending with Rahim Rajawani, from Butterfield Charter who came from Monache . One by one, as family and friends cheered, they were presented with their diploma cover. The actual diploma could be picked up immediately after the ceremony at the office, they were told.
The gymnasium also had three photo-op freestanding walls, each decorated with a background and balloons of the high schools, for the graduates. The individual graduates could be seen getting photographed with their principals, family members, and friends.
“I really like these intimate ceremonies,” said Crater after the ceremony. “We had more graduates but only these chose to walk. And we will have more later today. Today is the last day to get their credits in. We still have students inside (the school) who are trying to finish so we will have a few more added to the Class of 2021.”