Patriot High School celebrated the pioneering spirit at its first ever graduation ceremony in the gymnasium on June 13, honoring the Class of 2013.
“What is a pioneer?” Zohra Allen, President of the Class of 2013, asked her fellow students at graduation. “Not a middle-aged white man straddling a horse."
Being a pioneer is all about leadership, Allen told her classmates. Upon graduating, she led them in proudly reflecting upon the many ways they pioneered new territory at Patriot, leaving behind a legacy for all future classes to follow.
The graduates knew of which legacy she spoke. It included an abundance of school spirit, harnessed through “Red Nation.” It would soon be reflected in trophies and banners that recalled a legacy of excellence built on the field, on the court, on stage, on canvass and in marching competitions.
Salutatorian Kari Willett, inspired by her love of Disney, told her classmates that the pioneering spirit makes each graduate a hero, adventurer, prince/princess and ultimately, a pioneer who is ready to embark on a journey and will “never stop exploring.”
“We keep moving forward because we’re curious,” Willett said, explaining the drive behind the Patriot Pioneer.
Valedictorian Nolan Uribe challenged the candidates for graduation to move forward into a successful adulthood, saying, “You owe it to yourselves and your fellow students to go into the world and do something great.”
Principal Dr. Michael Bishop expressed his pride and humility at being the first principal of Patriot High School and thanked his staff, students and their parents for fulfilling the expectations he had for the school, which Uribe fondly calls “the greatest high school in the nation.”
Reading from the poem, “Everything I Needed to Learn, I Learned in Kindergarten,” by Robert Fulghum, Bishop reminded the students to be kind, curious and respectful, but also to hold on to the kind of enthusiasm they had when they began their journey 13 years ago.
In 2000, the world was a different place, he told them. Since then, we’ve been to war, the economy has changed and technology has become a more essential part of our existence.
However, he warned them not to forget the people they were on their first day of kindergarten, the young people who maybe dreamed of being ballerinas, football players or firefighters.
“Now’s the time to take all that energy, enthusiasm and creativity,” he told the Class of 2013, “and make those dreams come true.”
While pursuing those dreams, he advised them to dedicate their lives to serving and helping others, quoting Fulghum in saying, “You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.”
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