Every year, Will C. Wood High School seniors take their final steps as a high school student, receive their diplomas and walk off into the next stage of their lives. It is always a special occasion, but Friday’s ceremony was a bit more special than most.
Or as Principal Adam Rich remarked, it was “a day like no other in the history of our school.”
The school year began with a continuation of the distance learning format, which brought a new level of education that was considered equal parts innovative and frustrating as the world continued to try and stave off the COVID-19 pandemic. Many seniors likely wondered at the start of the year if they would even have an in-person ceremony.
With cases decreasing and vaccinations increasing, an in-person ceremony was held — not in two parts, as initially planned, but as one ceremony Friday, as Solano County moved into the orange tier. Last week, the Class of 2020 finally had their in-person ceremony after it was canceled last year, and on Friday, it was the Class of 2021’s turn.
“We are coming through one of the biggest crises we’ve ever faced, and here we are coming through it together stronger, more resilient and with the knowledge that we — that you — can face incredible obstacles and overcome them,” Rich said.
As it does every June, Wildcat Stadium was awash in blue gowns draped in sashes and leis that were made out of materials ranging from flowers to candy to raisin boxes.
The ceremony was a celebration of all students’ achievements, and given Will C. Wood’s award-winning band and choir programs, musicians and singers were given an evening to shine, whether it was the Sylvan Singers performing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Riley Miller singing “A Million Dreams” from “The Greatest Showman” or the band performing the theme to “The Mandalorian.” Indeed, this was the way they capped off the year, and they did it in style.
Rich acknowledged that it was also a year of loss and struggle for many.
“I know there’s nothing that can give back the year we have lost,” he said, “so give yourself permission to grieve and be vulnerable and just to be human, but also give yourself permission to be grateful and to look back and be proud of all the amazing things you’ve done.”
The ubiquity of the pandemic remained a theme of the students’ speeches, such as that of Senior Class President Kyle Hulburt.
“I think we can all agree that this past year will live with us forever,” he said. “We had to grow up much faster than we expected, but the sacrifices that we had to make will become our future strengths. We learned to adapt, to persevere despite obstacles and to select the perfect Zoom profile picture. Though our experiences have been nothing like we imagined, we will come out stronger and more prepared for the rest of our lives.”
Hulburt disputed the perception that high school is the best period of a person’s life but did not downplay its importance.
“High school is the place where we start to find ourselves,” he said. “It is the place where we explore interests, learn about our strengths, and start to make connections to the world around us – but high school is not the end. We have so much more life ahead of us, and so much to contribute.”
Lily-Ann Cooper was direct in describing her senior year.
“This was not the best year of our lives, but we still managed to pull through,” she said. “Sitting behind that screen day in and day out was one of the hardest things I’ve faced in school.”
However, Cooper said there were a few things that allowed for students to get through the year.
“Luckily for us, we had a lot of amazing teachers here on campus guiding us every step of the way,” she said. “Band and drumline, they were there for me, and (we had) TikTok trends, of course.”
Cooper advised her peers to leave the past “where it stands as we walk into this new light.”
“We are the most influential and moving-forward generation this world will have ever seen,” she said. “We are about to go out there and face even more hardships but I know us. We’re ready. We are going to make great changes in this world.”
Valedictorian Makayla Fawson said a lot has changed since freshman year, including the opening of the Wildcat Stadium, which was still under construction four years ago.
“Now we are in our very strange senior year, struggling not to fall asleep in front of a computer screen, begging doctors to give us shots, avoiding physical interaction at all costs and we’re bumping elbows instead of fists,” she said. “It was weird.”
Fawson said her English teacher Tracy Ruiz had a saying, “Hard work now, easy work later.”
“I’m not too sure if Ms. Ruiz was telling the whole truth because I just remember all the hard work in high school, and I doubt college will be any easier,” she said. “But those words still gave me hope as I went through high school because they reassured me that hard work is a good thing and it will lead to success.”
Fawson said getting a diploma was not easy, particularly during a pandemic, but hard work made it possible.
“Things may not get easier, but they will get brighter,” she said. “Remember that there is so much more after high school. Let’s take this time to stop and be grateful for our hard work.”
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June 05, 2021 at 10:39AM
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Will C. Wood High School graduation highlights resilience - Vacaville Reporter
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