By Matt Wiley
Although it happens every spring, it’s a special day for each Wesley Chapel-area high school senior who walks the stage during his or her school’s graduation ceremony. This year’s seniors at both Wesley Chapel (WCH) and Wiregrass Ranch (WRH) high schools walked at the University of South Florida Sun Dome, located off E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa.
On the morning of June 1, 319 WCH students clad in light and navy blue gowns and mortarboards collected their diplomas and closed a four-year chapter of their lives.
WCH (located on Wells Rd.) principal Carin Hetzler-Nettles addressed her departing seniors with examples of successful celebrities who started as failures — including Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Seuss.
“There is one thing that all successful people have in common, and that is failure,” she told the crowd. “Each and every one of you has experienced failure at some point in your lives. Some failures are big, some are small. Each one of you has overcome something to get here today.”
She let the students know that they inevitably will fail again. “It’s what you do with (failure) that will determine your success. Use your history to guide you. You’ve all been successful, as is evidenced by your being here tonight.”
Hetzler-Nettles was followed by WCH valedictorian Christopher Poole, who graduated with a 4.52 weighted GPA and will be attending Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland in the fall, where he plans to study cyber gaming.
“What do you do when all of the people asking you questions your whole life have to let you move on?,” Poole asked his classmates. “Who’s going to force you to find the answers? That task now falls on you.”
Poole gave his peers a quick crash course about how and why to ask questions throughout life.
“No time is a bad time to be asking yourself questions,” Poole said. “The more questions you ask, the more in tune with yourself you’ll become.”
Wiregrass Ranch Walks As Well
On May 29, the Friday before WCH held its graduation ceremonies, 537 seniors from WRH (located on Mansfield Blvd.), also walked the stage at the Sun Dome.
“Throughout the past four years, you have tested my boundaries to always make me proud,” said WRH principal Robyn White. “Never before has any senior class spent more time in the principal’s office collaborating on projects and working towards a common goal.”
White gave some final advice to her graduating students, insisting that they continue to ask questions, recognize that the best years of their lives are still to come, to chase their passions, to not be scared to reinvent themselves, to make as many friends as possible and know that life may not go as they planned (“But that’s okay”), that the world will be a different place soon (“So, prepare for tomorrow”), and finally that, “The world is waiting for you; go get it.”
White was followed by salutatorian Antonio Medina, who graduated with a 4.6 weighted GPA and who will be attending prestigious Yale University in New Haven, CT, in the fall to study mechanical engineering and computer science.
“(From here), I see a world that will be filled with a little more happiness, all because of the people right here in this room,” Medina said. He encouraged every graduate to stop and take a look as they walked across the stage to see what he was seeing.
WRH valedictorian Casey Chitty, who graduated with a 4.7 weighted GPA and who will be attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in the fall, also had some advice for her classmates.
“Before we walk off the stage, let’s take a minute to seriously celebrate the walk we’re about to take and the work we’ve put in to reach these steps leading up to our stage,” Chitty said.
She continued, “Gratitude is a feeling that should accompany any great achievement and that’s exactly what this is, a great achievement. Wiregrass (Ranch) Class of 2015, be grateful today to everyone that has supported you along the way. This achievement is the direct result of the work you’ve performed and the decisions you’ve made and this will continue to be the case for the many successes in all of our futures.”
From everyone here at the Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News, congratulations and best of luck to the Class of 2015!
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