What started with a trickle on Friday will become a deluge by the time it’s all over Sunday night. But this isn’t the weather we’re talking about, it’s the fifth season; the favorite one of every year at DMPS: Commencement!

Friday morning at Hoyt Sherman Place, 39 Scavo seniors got the ball rolling for the DMPS Class of 2019. Their valedictorian and senior speaker, Nou Vue, whose inspiring story we shared in February, spoke for all of her classmates when she described Scavo as a special place for “students who want and deserve another chance.”

Friday night, 22 more graduates will get their diplomas at Ruby Van Meter and the stage will be set for the weekend pentathlon of pomp at Drake University’s Knapp Center where, in the following order, East, Hoover, Lincoln, Roosevelt and North will send their seniors on their ways.

Thursday’s announcement by the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa that all five of the comprehensive high schools are listed on the Iowa Advanced Placement Index for the 7th consecutive year made for the perfect mood-setter. Just as parents districtwide are bursting with celebratory pride in their students this weekend, so is the district itself proud of each of its schools, especially those where caps and gowns in assorted bright colors are the order of the holiday.

By the time it’s all over on Sunday when North’s class numbering 310 has gotten its due, almost 2,000 diplomas will be eagerly received. If each weighed a pound that would equal a ton of graduations.

But they’re much weightier than that, as any graduating senior knows.

Congratulations to the DMPS Class of 2019!

The schedule for the remaining commencement ceremonies is as follows:

  • Ruby Van Meter – RVM Gymnasium – Friday, May 24 at 6:00 PM
  • East High School – Knapp Center – Saturday, May 25 at 9:00 AM
  • Hoover High School – Knapp Center – Saturday, May 25 at 12:30 PM
  • Lincoln High School – Knapp Center – Saturday, May 25 at 3:30 PM
  • Roosevelt High School – Knapp Center – Saturday, May 25 at 7:30 PM
  • North High School – Knapp Center – Sunday, May 26 at 7:30 PM
Published on