Graduation season is always such a great time. Oftentimes a graduation feels like a right of passage opening a new chapter and closing another. With graduation comes the parties, the cookies and cakes, the shrine wall and, of course, the graduation money. So many neat aspects of growing up are tied to high school graduation and I’ve always enjoyed helping kids get to that mark in their lives. Of course I have to tell you it also is a little fun to see them on the big stage and all the nerves of being a kid show up again. Most of you out there have experienced a high school graduation and know what I am speaking of, but I wanted to share one of the things that many of you may not have gotten to see and that is our Penta graduation.
Our Penta students have their graduations done each spring, usually before their home school graduation. One of the cool traditions Penta has started is they graduate all the students by their school program and area of concentration. This unique experience allows true classmates who went through the two-year program and the 400-plus hours experience to walk and celebrate their experience together. It also is very cool that their own instructor gets to hand them their personalized career passport. I’m lucky enough to go out there each year and see the different programs as the students file across and share their memories. The ceremony is just a different atmosphere and feeling as those students are celebrating their accomplishments for achieving certifications in welding, dental assistants or a license for the state of Ohio in cosmetology and so many more. Most of the students have a final licensing exam to pass to be career ready.
This year as I watched the stream of kids, I had a chance to be extra proud. Each program gets to select one outstanding student of the year. I was so impressed and proud as Springfield High School had four of our high school students win the top honors within their program. This is a wonderful achievement, especially when you consider the total number of programs and the numerous member schools that go to Penta. To say the least, four students winning that recognition is incredible and the most that I have ever seen.
As I write this and think of all our graduates, I am so proud. Proud of all of our students but, I wanted to make sure that I gave a shout out to those four students that were recognized for outstanding achievement. What an accomplishment at Penta and as Mr. Ewers said how proud I am that they are “career ready.” So congratulations to all the students from Penta on their graduation ceremony, but a special shout out to Erica Sniegowski, Ruben Martinez, Davyn Hart and Joseph Wilson. I was able to give them an opportunity to stand in front of their SHS peers at our graduation practice and say how proud I was of them, but I wanted to share to our community how well we are represented. Congratulations to all graduates!
Graduation Thank You’s Thank you to all of the parents and family who came out to our SHS graduation. I really appreciate all of the positive comments that we received and how excited the crowd was this year to see the kids walk on that stage. I would like to say thank you to all of the staff members who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this graduation a success. Betsy Hicks and our school counselors, Latrice, Jasmin, Chirs, Ron and Tim. Mrs. Welch, Mrs. Fink, Mr. Grooms, Mrs. Bryan, Nurse Vicki, the high school administration team, Mr. Geha, Ms. Redinger, the school board and especially all of the teachers who showed up to add that extra special touch. Shown are photos of some of the Penta graduates. Be sure to look for the Holland-Springfield Journal graduation edition for more photos.
