Fifty-One New Grads Join the Class of 2013
May is the traditional month of commencement but Pomp and Circumstance always has a nice ring to it, even in August.
Fifty-one more students were added to the DMPS Class of 2013 when they received their diplomas in the district’s third annual summer commencement ceremony on August 13 at Hoyt Sherman Place. Superintendent Tom Ahart was the guest speaker and he reminded the better-late-than-never grads that the ceremony was called a commencement because it marks the beginning of something – their lives as independent persons.
“There’s a line from a song I like that’s about the fine line between a groove and a rut,” he said. “You’re in the graduation groove. Seize the opportunities provided by this diploma.”
The newly minted grads are the latest products of the academic support labs, or ASL’s, offering Senior Summer School, a program that’s up and running at all five high schools and ensures that nobody stumbles just short of the finish line. Senior Summer School and the ceremony at Hoyt Sherman were made possible by the High School Graduation Grant Initiative and United Way of Central Iowa.
“There’s something really special about summer commencement,” said DMPS Learning Services Coordinator Jamie Gilley. “It puts a nice finishing touch on the last school year right before the new one begins.”
Compared to dropouts high school grads live longer, make hundreds of thousands more dollars during their longer lifetimes, are less likely to suffer from heart/lung disease, cancer or diabetes and more likely to vote. All that wrapped up in those diplomas – times 51.
No wonder they look so snazzy!
