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Highlands Today

Lake Placid Graduation Is An Emotional Rescue

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: May 31, 2008

VIEW AND PURCHASE GRADUATION PHOTOS

AVON PARK — Behind the auditorium stage at South Florida Community College, there's the chatter of 186 voices.

"Are you nervous?"

"Oh my God! How am I supposed to get this thing on my head?"

Two steps away, a girl solved the problem with two clear barrettes. The senior standing beside her offered to help.

"Where do you want these?"

"Behind my ears." The clips went on, and the cap and mortarboard stayed on.

Time was slipping away before the Lake Placid High School graduation ceremony started at 1 p.m. Saturday.

"Go though that door," Cindy Rivers shouted. "Girls, get your roses."

The chatter continued. "Girls!" They started down the hall.

Then the boys lined up, and Rivers, the senior class sponsor, chemistry and physics professor, swimming coach and athletic director, pinned a rose on their green gowns.

"This is my favorite part," said Rivers. "The guys I don't like, I just stick 'em."

But don't believe that. Her white Ford F-150 pickup was parked outside with messages written all over the side and back windows. "A bunch of seniors love you, Mrs. Rivers." Another one said, "She's hot."

Jack Lott and Kemonji Ellington were waiting for the big moment together. Are they going to miss good old Lake Placid High School?

"A little bit," said Lott, who was in 4-H for two years.

Ellington was more forthcoming. He was a basketball forward, but he's headed to Daytona Beach Community College to start law enforcement training.

"I want to join FDLE," he said. At first, he wanted to be a game ranger. Now, it's not so sure, so he'll make a decision later.

Lott is coming right back to SFCC to major in business, and eventually he wants to attend law school.

"I'm going to miss the teachers that cared about me the most," said Teleita Samuels. One in particular was Melissa Shon, who instructs English II. "She kept me going everybody had given up on me."

Out in the audience, parents and friends began arriving before noon for the ceremony.

Alisa Piper's dad, Chuck, was happy. "No tears here."

What about Eduardo Quevedo's mother, who filled the front row with relatives from Venezuela, Columbia and America. Any tears?

"I've already started," she admitted with smile.

The green gowns of the boys and the white gowns of the girls filled the hall winding past the museum. These were the times for closing books and long last looks. In just minutes, "Pomp and Circumstance" would play, and the graduates would make their grand entrance.

Soon enough, Yessica Hurtado and Jessica Coury would give their valedictory and salutatory addresses. Then the awards. The Bailey Medals went to Harrison James Price and Sydney Elizabeth Stewart. Rachel Burnett and David Veley earned the Robert Fitzgerald School Board citizenship awards.

Then, Tina Pendarvis, who retired in January from 31 years of teaching English but came back for this ceremony, began reciting names. The valedictorian first, then the salutatorian. Summa cum laude. Magna cum laude. Cum laude. The students with 4.0 grade averages. The rest of the graduates. And it was over.

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