It was a high five for a job well done during this year’s Senior Walk 2021 at Navarro Elementary School. Navarro High School seniors were not only applauded by the younger students but the students also got a glimpse of their own future.
(Geronimo) — The 2020-2021 school year officially wraps today for students and staff in the Navarro ISD. Today is the last day of school for the area district. The focus now is on Friday night’s graduation ceremony in Navarro High School’s Erwin Lee Field. A total of 140 students are set to walk the stage. That’s slightly higher than last year’s graduating class of 137 students.
Navarro ISD Superintendent Wendi Russell says this particular group of seniors should be applauded for its determination and for its strength to see this year through.
“Our kids as a whole have been very resilient. Our seniors, it’s phenomenal to be able to watch them be able to graduate on Friday night. It’s an exciting time to see them walk across the stage knowing the trials that they faced over the last two years. That has withstood time for them. They’ve been in school 12 years but the last two years have been extremely difficult and to be able to say they did it and did it well and they graduating speaks volumes to the resiliency of our children and the seniors especially,” said Russell.
Russell says although this is the Class of 2021, she can’t help but also think back to the Class of 2020. Russell says there is no question that this group of seniors has been more appreciative of all those senior traditions.
“I feel bad for our seniors from last year that didn’t get some of the traditional things that normally would happen with a senior year — prom, all the different celebrations, the awards banquets and then a normal graduation and so this year, to be able to offer that normal graduation is definitely exciting,” said Russell.
Amid all of the challenges this past year, Russell says she believes the district itself has also learned a few lessons along the way.
“We have definitely had some obstacles this school year and I feel like we have met them head on. We have really tried to focus on increasing communication across the district with students, staff, community. It has been a great year even with all of the obstacles. For me, it has been a great year to see students get back into the classrooms. Parents were a little worried at first dropping their children off especially elementary kids in making sure that they are safe. But I think we did a great job of implementing protocols that would help across the district. We are going to keep some of those protocols as we move forward just knowing that they tend to work and will offer some as optional but we will have some that we are going to continue doing like cleaning desks and sanitizing and having kids go wash their hands more often and having sanitizer available. Those things we are going to continue doing because I feel like it has helped overall with the health of our entire students and staff,” said Russell.
Russell says overall, she is particularly pleased with the outcome of the 2020-2021 school year. With it being her first full year as school superintendent, Russell is proud of everyone who contributed.
“I feel like this year has for me has flown by even being my first year, it doesn’t seem like it has drugged. It has been fast and fierce and exciting to see kids in buildings learning and us changing. Our staff had to take a decade of new things and put it into about 10 months of training and getting ready for school. So, our staff really stepped up. Our parents stepped up. Our school board has faced so many obstacles this year and with every decision that our school board made, they made it with student achievement and safety and security at the forefront so as a district, we all came together and worked with those goals in mind,” said Russell.
Leading this year’s senior class will be 2021 Valedictorian Kallie Kimble and Salutatorian Daniel Martinez. The graduation ceremony is set for 8 p.m. Friday in Erwin Lee Field.