Sarasota-Manatee seniors, shadowed for two years by pandemic, reach unfettered rite of passage
A cascade of Sarasota and Manatee County high school commencement ceremonies mark this month, and for the first time since 2019, graduating seniors across the area will receive their diplomas without the COVID-19 restrictions that marked the occasion for the last two senior classes.
Among the approximately 5,000 seniors celebrating are those in the first class to graduate from the Manatee School District’s newest high school, Parrish Community, which opened in August 2019 to serve the growing community in north Manatee County.
The school boasted a new $90 million, 95-acre campus and, at the time of its opening, had only ninth- and 10th-graders. Those 10th-graders now constitute the Class of 2022 for the school’s first graduating class.
Kaitlyn Reber is one of the highest achieving seniors at PCHS and the rising college student says her experience at the new school has helped shape her for all that college has to offer. Reber, who moved to Florida in 2019 from Pennsylvania, said that PCHS was the right fit because she wasn’t the only student new to the school upon her arrival.
“It was cool because everybody was the new kid,” Reber said. “We were all new, all trying to learn how the school works, all trying to work together. It’s been a really cool experience.”
Following graduation, Reber will attend her dream college, the University of Florida, where she will work toward a medical degree.
“I’ve wanted to go there, ever since I was a little," she said. "I can’t wait to get there.”
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PCHS transitioned to online learning at the start of the pandemic in 2020, only a few months after the school opened. Reber said the unusual shift, coupled with the short time frame to get used to a new school, weighed on her and other students.
"We had to wear masks and go online," she said. "When we got back to classes in 2020 we were all spaced out and there wasn't a lot of interaction in classes. It was hard."
She said the trials from the pandemic, the new school culture, and even planning the school's first-ever prom have all added to her high school experience.
Reber's athletic efforts weren't spared in the chaos of the last two years, said Reber, who took dual enrollment classes through the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.
The student-athlete was the first person to join the school’s swim team in 2020. Though clubs and extracurricular activities were limited in the district during the height of the pandemic, Reber was determined to build a team for her soon-to-be alma mater to compete with other local schools in the swimming.
“When the school opened two years ago, I was the only one on the swim team. I was by myself sophomore year; it was interesting,” she said.
Starting the PCHS swim team, she said, was a challenge in the beginning but by her junior year, Reber had gained five new teammates; this school year, the PCHS swim team has just over a dozen active student-athletes.
“It’s really cool to see there is an actual team now. Now, I look back, and I’m proud of myself for sticking with it. I did this and I kept at it. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t.”
Booker High graduate follows love of design to Southern California
Alaya Knowlton will head to the University of Southern California following her commencement at Booker High and pursue a bachelor in fine arts in game art, combining her love of gaming and design into a course load she's ready to dive into.
After nearly two years of uncertainty during the pandemic, Knowlton says she is excited about graduating this month.
“I did half of my junior year online, I enjoyed it at first because I had more free time and additional time to do what I had to do,” Knowlton said. “But eventually having to juggle all my classes, as well as less communication with teachers, it became an issue for me."
Knowlton shifted back to full-time in-person learning at the start of the 2021-22 school year she said. She says it was noticeable that students struggled with the transition.
"It was very different, very strange. I had to adjust to it a lot. I can tell it’s had a big impact on my classmates... a lot of the incoming freshmen and sophomores, you can see that the tumultuous shift from in-person to online, back to in-person learning, the back and forth, was an added stressor for their academics I think.”
But Knowlton's academic achievements did not falter. She is graduating with a cumulative 4.86 GPA, which includes numerous advanced and honors classes in her course load.
She excelled in animation. The foundation of skills it will take to pursue a career in game art has been set, she says, through the class she calls her favorite. During her four-year degree program, students will choose a concentration within the cinematic arts field, including character animation, environmental design, visual effects, 3-D pipelines or interactive animation.
"USC has a great animation program, and I feel like USC will give me a better overall college experience," Knowlton said.
"Pursuing game art is important to me. I chose it because it's the medium I love and I think that I can really explore my interests further. For me, it's a medium that I'm able to use to tell an impactful story through," she said.
2022 graduation schedule
The Manatee School District will see seven of its eight high schools hold graduation ceremonies at LECOM Park in Bradenton beginning Tuesday, May 17, with Bayshore High School’s commencement at 7 p.m.
Seniors from Parrish Community High will graduate on Wednesday, May 18, followed by Southeast High on May 19 and Lakewood Ranch High May 20.
Three Manatee schools will host commencement May 21: Palmetto High at 8 a.m., followed by Braden River High at 5 p.m.
Manatee High will close out Saturday’s commencement ceremonies at Hawkins Stadium on the school’s campus at 8 p.m.
District officials have arranged rain plans for each of the ceremonies, with the alternate ceremony scheduled for the following day at the school’s football stadium.
Sarasota County will begin commencement ceremonies this weekend for its district graduates. District officials have stated that, with the exception of graduation ceremonies held at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, no COVID protocols will be in place for the scheduled ceremonies.
On May 17, North Port High’s commencement will take place at Charlotte Sports Park at 7:30 p.m. On Friday, May 20, four schools will host graduation ceremonies for their seniors: Oak Park School, at the school gymnasium at 2 p.m., Suncoast Polytech High, at Sarasota Opera House in downtown Sarasota at 6 p.m., Sarasota High School at Cleveland Field at 8 p.m. and Venice High at Powell-Davis Stadium at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, May 21: Riverview High and Booker High will hold ceremonies at Robarts Arena, at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
Pine View School will hold graduation Sunday, May 22, at the Van Wezel Center for Performing Arts at 2 p.m.
Samantha Gholar covers social justice news for the Herald-Tribune and USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at sgholar@gannett.com or on Twitter: @samanthagweires
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota-Manatee county high school seniors gear up for graduation
