Congrats to Highland Park’s Class of 2012
Drumroll, please.
Highland Park High School’s valedictorian and salutatorian were named yesterday; they’re Alex Levine and Jessica Yeh, respectively.
Blanket Award winners — who get kudos for character and a sense of service, among other things — are Katie Thompson and Andrew Barnes.
The whole ceremony was full of applause, really, with the graduating class getting well over $10 million in scholarship offers from around the country (I believe the number was around $17 $15 million, actually, but have yet to confirm). Nice.
“I hope you make your parents cry for a really good reason in the next couple of days,” joked principal Walter Kelly, after imparting words of praise and inspiration. “You’re dismissed.”
Quite sobering to see so many families presenting awards and scholarships in honor of their HPISD students and graduates who died young. I’m not sure how they get through each day, much less appear on stage to honor students who remind them of the ones they lost, but I admire them for it.
@ Parent: It was definitely sobering to figure out which people at the ceremony were parents presenting those namesake scholarships. And once I connected the dots, I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
No one should have to be that strong — but they are.