(Seguin) – The last chapter of high school comes to a close this Friday night for approximately 528 Seguin High School seniors who will be walking the stage over at Seguin High School’s Matador Stadium.
Presenting the Class of 2024 during this year’s commencement exercises will be Seguin High School Principal Christine Perez.
Perez says it was this group of students who navigated their first year of high school during the initial unknowns of the COVID pandemic.
Today, Perez says the community stands proud behind these students and recognizes their successes along the way.
“One of the traits of the Class of 2024 that I have been most impressed with has been the level of leadership and also that they are part of the COVID class.
So, you remember, this cohort experienced all of the ramifications of COVID including what their public school experience has been like and so to see them executing leadership as seniors this year and the community on our campus, some in their church organizations or other organizations that they are a part of, it just speaks volumes to the level of resiliency and determination that they had for themselves and also as a cohort of learners,” said Perez.
Helping to lead their classmates to the stage are Valedictorian Lorenzo Rodriguez and Salutatorian Sophia Atrian.
The milestone for Rodriguez being named this year’s Valedictorian is more than just being the top student. Rodriguez says it is about breaking barriers.
“I am also proud to be representing number one in our class because there really hasn’t been a Hispanic Valedictorian like within the last decade or even longer than that. So, that’s also why I am really proud to have this honor,” said Rodriguez. “I’ve just been looking at those pictures on the wall over there — that represents the last decade, and I don’t see anyone like me that is number one in that spot. So, I’m glad to fill that gap.”
Rodriguez says being able to retain the top spot has always meant surpassing his own personal goals.
“It was a surprise freshman year and then I just kept building off of that since then. I always had a pretty big gap so I knew I had some wiggle room to work with, but I was just competing with myself to get the highest GPA I could because that was really my goal,” said Rodriguez.
He says this achievement, however, would not have been possible without the unwavering support of his parents Mary Lou and Rogelio Rodriguez. He says much of his motivation has also come from his grandmother Louisa Gonzales who has always paved the way for him to remain humble as he worked toward success.
“She just spreads a lot of wisdom to me. She reminds me how to be kind to people. She’s very innocent and I just think she is sweet,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’s plans are to study computer science at Rice University. His dream is to be a software engineer.
Like Rodriguez, Atrian’s commitment to keeping up with her studies has also paid off.
“I’ve known since freshman year that I was top two, and it was kind of like ‘oh, I want to stay top two, but I’ve always really tried to prioritize myself and just educating myself rather than trying to compete with others,” said Atrian.
The salutatorian’s plans are to study biology at the University of Texas in Austin. Her ambitions are to one day be a nurse or a physician’s assistant.
Atrian is the daughter of Katie and Oliker Atrian.
As school principal, Perez says she sees how Rodriguez and Atrian are prime examples of what makes this class so unique and deserving.
She says an illustration of that leadership was evident Tuesday night during Senior Sunset held at Matador Stadium.
“They were just engaged in this fellowship. They were playing kickball. They were lounging on the field just having conversations, just really immersed in the moment and you will hear in the Val and Sal speeches just about the blessing and the being in the moment as a human, embracing all of the characteristics of being a human being and giving yourself grace and letting yourself experience the emotions and not having to have an answer for everything right now or know exactly what your future should hold but just to navigate each experience as it comes your way and work through it,” said Perez.
In preparation of friends and family attending graduation, Perez reminds attendees about their stadium policy for graduation. She says the district wants to ensure a safe environment for the special celebration.
“We want to remind folks to honor our clear bag policy. There are some postings on our Seguin ISD social media pages and also the high school page about the clear bag policy and what items are permissible inside the stadium and what items are not. So, if they could help us with that, that would be awesome and then lastly, we want everyone to enjoy the ceremony and to cheer on our graduates but also stick around. We have a special surprise,” said Perez.
While flowers are welcome, district officials ask that no signs, balloons, gifts or noisemakers enter the stadium. The concession stand will also be open .
Seguin High School’s graduation ceremony gets underway at 8 p.m. Friday. A livestream of the ceremony will be available at https://pulse.ly/stcr4b7hud.