The sun shone brightly on the green robes of the 246 graduates, each waiting to receive their diploma and move on to an even brighter future.
The Villages High School class of 2024 graduated Saturday morning at the Range at HG Morse Stadium in Middleton, the first graduating class from the new campus.
Your achievements have helped pave the way for an exciting new era at VHS, said Director Rob Grant as he addressed the graduates. Today's ceremony is the culmination of our inaugural year on this campus. However, you must remember that today is by no means the end. Today is the inauguration of an epic new era in your lives.
The ceremony was filled with speeches, traditions, some new and some old, and an essential memory for the graduates and hundreds of people in attendance.
The graduates walked through the stadium tunnel and out onto the turf to Pomp and Circumstance.
Those who were members of the choir performed one last time for their school, singing the national anthem and Wanting Memories by Ysaye M. Barnwell.
The crowd enjoyed speeches from salutatorian Lilly Liu and valedictorian Laura Garcia Torres which were broadcast on the stadium video board.
One second, we were celebrating our freedoms since middle school and we were now adults who graduated from high school, Liu said. Looking back, each day of the past becomes more and more difficult to remember as time passes.
Liu's speech reflected her memories of her K-12 education at VCS and reminded her graduating class of the simpler times of crayons and playgrounds until now.
Without love, hard work and dedication, we would not all be here today, Liu said. Never forget that every day is a unique opportunity to shape your future.
Garcia Torres spoke to the class about his faith and perseverance.
We are the class that didn't graduate from 8th grade and started high school wearing masks, Garcia Torres said. Today we are the first graduating class at our beautiful new Middleton campus. Despite all our challenges, our class overcame all obstacles and adapted.
Garcia Torres urged his class to think about the future and respect the core values they were taught at VCS.
I hope that each of us succeeds in our chosen fields while continuing to uphold the core values that we have been taught since we were young, Garcia Torres said.
The Class of 2024 has graduates who follow many different paths after high school. Zoey Simmons earned a scholarship to the United States Naval Academy and Roland Ireland earned a scholarship to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Thirty-one graduates earned an associate degree from Lake-Sumter State College through a dual enrollment partnership. Five enlisted in the army.
A new tradition was also born for the ceremony, as a student was chosen to lead the graduating class onto campus carrying the Staff of Learning, an ornamental staff adorned with the school's symbols.
Ryan Wilkins was chosen to take over the staff and lead his class to the rhythm of Patrick Doyle's Hogwarts March.
It was pretty cool, Wilkins said. I honestly didn't expect to win it, but I have to wear it. This is a new tradition for us and I think it will be a good tradition in the future.
Wilkins was chosen to usher in the tradition because of who he is as a person.
We chose a student who was a very good athlete and a hard worker, Grant said. We were looking for someone we know [who overcame personal struggles], who has resilience and this courage. We wanted someone the class could trust and who would carry on the tradition we have here. Be a good human being.
Wilkins plans to attend Lake-Sumter State College and work with his father in their family carpentry business.
Wilkins, who played safety in football, had the game he loved in mind as he left the stadium he played to defend.
I will miss sports, football and my coaches, Wilkins said. And then just friends moving out of state to other colleges that I won't see for a while. Other than that, mainly football, I will definitely miss it.
After being directed by learning staff, graduates gathered with their parents at the Heritage Walk, adjacent to the Mark G. Morse Athletic Complex.
The Heritage Walk is a route on which the names of each class are engraved in concrete, which the class of 2024 will join.
Parents and students took photos with each other and many exchanged farewells with teachers and classmates, some for what may be the last time.
For 77 graduates, like Trevor Rutkoski, it represents the end of a 13-year journey through Villages Charter School that began in kindergarten.
It's nice, the change of pace with the new school, Rutkoski said. I have been here for 13 years with the school. It's been a lot of good times, a lot of relationships, friends, teachers who have been great. I couldn't ask for anything better.
Rutkoski plans to attend Lake Technical College to pursue his love of culinary arts, something he discovered at the Academy of Culinary Arts.
The academies definitely helped us prepare, Rutkoski said. Some of us didn't know what we were going to do and many of us found what we wanted to do through academies.
Clifton Bridges also had a lot on his mind about the school he had attended since kindergarten.
“It’s a little sad to leave people that I knew from the very beginning, but I like to think of it as a new chapter and not close a book,” Bridges said. So I'm just excited about college and my future life.
Bridges attended Southeastern University in Lakeland to play football and major in business finance.
[Ill miss] I think about the relationships you build through high school sports and going to class with the same people, Bridges said. I've known a lot of these guys since kindergarten, it's a bond you can't break. University lasts four years; It's been 13 years, so nothing can change that.
Staff writer Garrett Shiflet can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 20.5367, or [email protected].
