School children are often told that their education is a marathon and not a sprint. That proved to be true for the end of the Windsor High School Class of 2021 as a marathon of graduations allowed them to experience an in-person graduation at Fitzpatrick Stadium on June 5.
There were three separate commencement ceremonies — Silver, Black and Gold, after the school colors — in order to maintain social distancing and allow all students to graduate in person. Families — each student was allowed five guests — sat in pods of chairs, and each graduate sat with their family pod until they were called up to the stage for their diploma, which was distributed with masks and social distancing, though students were allowed to remove their masks for photos.
Leticia Ruiz sang the “The Star-Spangled Banner” for each of the three ceremonies, but the speakers changed for each ceremony. The Silver ceremony was introduced and managed by assistant principal Amy Zigler, with a Spanish welcome and poem from Mariana Patino. The Black ceremony feature Pete Sullivan, another assistant principal, with a welcome from ASB president Anna Whiteley, a Spanish welcome from WUSD board president and WHS alumni Stephanie Ahmad and the valedictorian’s speech “Significance” from Robert Carrillo. The Gold ceremony was hosted by final assistant principal Grace Curtin-Fiano, with a Spanish welcome by Sarai Martinez Hernandez.
In addition to the in-person ceremony, at 7:30 p.m. on June 5 the high school also released a full video that includes highlights from the in-person ceremony, and pre-recorded speeches from the principal, the superintendent, the school board and keynote speaker Savannah Snyde.
The video can be viewed here.
