
{"id":417,"date":"2007-06-14T07:25:14","date_gmt":"2007-06-14T15:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/06\/14\/high-school-days-come-to-an-end-in-style\/"},"modified":"2007-06-14T11:12:33","modified_gmt":"2007-06-14T19:12:33","slug":"high-school-days-come-to-an-end-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/06\/14\/high-school-days-come-to-an-end-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"High school days come to an end in style"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Amid a sea of parents, friends, teachers and mentors, more than 750 graduates from Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools made their way across a stage and out into the world on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We made it, baby,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d East Chapel Hill High graduate Antonio Sales told members of his graduating class. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<!--more--><br \/>\nBoth high schools held graduation ceremonies at the Dean Smith Center on UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campus to accommodate the huge crowds that turned out to celebrate the graduates.<\/p>\n<p>Clad in black caps and gowns, graduates were congratulated by school staff and administrators as they walked across the stage.<\/p>\n<p>East Chapel Hill High Principal David Thaden noted the diversity of his school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s senior class, with scholars, athletes, talkers, mathletes and chess players graduating this year.  He pushed the students to continue to work toward their goals.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to challenge all of you to look for the opportunities to make tomorrow magical,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know you. I expect great things of you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dream those dreams and act on it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let anything stand in your way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nStudent speakers expressed excitement and nostalgia to be leaving their homes of the past four years.<br \/>\nLucas Lallinger, one of East Chapel Hill High\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s valedictorians, joked with his classmates about the long study hours and intense diligence required of an East Chapel Hill High valedictorian.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in all seriousness, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to miss East,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Probably.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>East Chapel Hill High graduate Samuel Kirkpatrick reflected on his experiences in high school, drawing comparisons between high school and Star Wars.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attending East, we are pressured to succeed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just the same, everyone pressured Anakin Skywalker.\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Well, look at what happened to him \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he became Darth Vader.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Kirkpatrick encouraged his fellow classmates to instead take the path of Luke Skywalker.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Over these past four years, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned things about ourselves and life in general,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time we take these experiences out into the real world.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need to get out there and discover new things.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>At Chapel Hill High\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commencement later in the day, senior class co-presidents Kirstin Moy and Caitlin Styres led off the program.<\/p>\n<p>For now, Moy said, many in the class of 2007 are not headed too far away and the change may not seem so monumental.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But years from now, when we look back at this moment, we will realize that this was one of the pivotal moments of our lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Senior class vice president Hye Won Kim announced the class of 2007\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gift to the school would be four new picnic tables.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like much, but the school really needs them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<br \/>\nThe senior class council, she noted, opted against a tiger cub, although it would have made \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a truly awesome gift.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The day was not entirely filled with speeches. The school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chamber choir serenaded grads and their families with Benjamin Britten\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Evening Primrose.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and during the changing of the guard at the podiums there were eruptions of beach balls (and at least one small, inflatable raft).<\/p>\n<p>Valedictorians were recognized at both high schools\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ceremonies. East Chapel Hill High\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2006-07 valedictorians are Meg Xiao He, Amanda Huffman, Lucas Lallinger, Kirsten Nielsen, Jacob Socolar and Mario Yang. Chapel Hill High\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s valedictorians are Anahid Behrouzi, Brian Judge, James Kylstra and Colleen Murphy.<br \/>\nThe graduates leave their schools with hundreds of scholarships and awards from a great many organizations, colleges and universities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer Amid a sea of parents, friends, teachers and mentors, more than 750 graduates from Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools made their way across a stage and out into the world on Saturday. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We made it, baby,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d East Chapel Hill High graduate Antonio Sales told members of his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}