CCHS Class of 2018 says farewell to high school
It was hot and stuffy in the narrow, back halls of the SIU Arena on Saturday as the graduates of Carbondale Community High School lined up in their caps and gowns for commencement.
"Put your tassel on the right side until you get your diploma, then move it to the left," advised one young lady.
"Just do what the person in front of you does," added a young man.
"Are we all ready for all of this?" asked another, to which no one replied.
The young women checked their hair and makeup, frantically fanning themselves in a futile effort to stay cool as the young men jostled and joked and fidgeted. Everyone was nervous, never mind their denials, checking the time as the minutes inches forward to the moment they had all looked forward to and dreaded.
Outside the big doors, the crowd grew until nearly every seat was filled. Parents and siblings, grandparents and extended family members, friends and supporters found their seats and checked their programs, most of them just as nervous as the graduates.
There is plenty for the CCHS class of 2018 to be proud of as a group. The music program won third in state this year - the eighth consecutive year that the program has placed in the top three among all IHSA Class A schools - and U.S. News and World Report recently named CCHS among the best high schools in America.
All eyes were on the sea of caps and gowns on the arena floor or the parade of young men and women to the stage where they received their diplomas. Once commencement began, it was no longer about the graduating class; it was about each, individual graduate and the people in the audience who had been with him or her throughout this four-year journey.
The CCHS band played, and the concert choir performed. Superintendent Steve Murphy welcomed the crowd in several languages and congratulated the class of 2018. Salutatorians and valedictorians were recognized, and Principal Daniel Booth presented the graduates.
Principal Booth congratulated the class for "four years of hard work and dedication." Julie Van Winkle, a member of the high school board, wished the graduates luck on their next steps, "whether that's college, the military or the workforce."
If you asked those graduates the standard questions, you got the standard answers.
They were sad and happy and nervous and excited, all at the same time for reasons as different as their high school experiences. Some were glad to be done with high school, swearing never to look back. Others were grieving the separation from their friends, family and routines, admitting reluctantly that "it's a little scary now" to be forging ahead and planning a life.
Most of the graduates have plans past graduation, if only to "figure out what I'm doing with my life." But all of them were more than a little bit nervous about those next, oh-so-important steps.
Maria Tragoudas will be pursuing a career as a nurse by attending Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Mia Thompson will be studying marketing at SIUC. Victoria Thomas will be taking science classes at John A. Logan College as she begins a course of pre-med studies. And Jessica Twist will go home to her husband, Kye, and decide what to do next, as a couple.
Connor Lind will be studying history at Flagler University in Florida. Keinon McBride is going into the U.S. Marine Corps, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-grandfather. Ty Lambert and Bailey McCormick just aren't sure what they want to do next, so both of them will be taking some general courses at John A. Logan while they figure that out.
More than 225 graduates lined up, walked across the stage, received their diplomas, shook hands with school officials and walked back to their seats. And as each name was read, there was an explosion of support from some corner of the arena, and even a few blasts from air horns, specifically banned from the proceedings.
But the rules didn't really matter on Saturday. What mattered was each and every graduate, their specific dreams, their pride in that diploma, and the smiles on the faces of their loved ones as they walked across the stage and into a future of their own making.
Congratulations, CCHS class of 2018. May the road rise to meet you.