Summer graduates awarded high school diplomas in Las Vegas ceremony
When Jaison Arrendondo started his freshman year of high school, he remembers someone told him it would be an easy four years.
So he skated through for three years. But when he started his senior year in fall 2017, a counselor told him he was 10.5 credits short of the 22.5 required credits to earn a diploma under Nevada law. The 18-year-old said he kicked it into high gear. Even so, he wasn’t able to finish that task during the school year.
He completed a one-credit elective course and a half-credit of English during summer school, and on Tuesday afternoon he crossed the Orleans Arena stage with about 400 other Clark County School District students who needed a little bit of extra time.
“I’m excited. I’m ready for a new chapter,” Arrendondo said. He wants to enroll at the College of Southern Nevada in the fall, although he’s not sure what he wants to study yet.
Student speaker Christian Martinez, from Foothill High School, said a number of cool distractions likely kept him and his fellow graduates from taking full advantage of the free education offered to them. He commended them for buckling down and getting it done, and he gave them a warning for the future.
Just as technology has made procrastination easy, it also has replaced a number of jobs, forcing older generations to learn new skills to stay in the workplace. And at this pace, that type of shift may happen again one day to Tuesday’s graduates.
“The ability to acquire new information quickly will be key,” Martinez said. “Just keep your mind sharp.”
Tuesday’s graduation ceremony for summer graduates marked the first class of graduating students new Superintendent Jesus Jara has presided over as the district’s leader. He thanked the students for the honor, as he reminded them to look back and be grateful to all those who helped them get to the stage. But he also challenged them for the future.
“I encourage you to stay engaged in your community,” Jara said.
Students participating in the ceremony wore their home school robe colors, creating a colorful array on the arena floor. It was a nice touch to an already emotional day for Meghan Missick, an 18-year-old graduate of Foothill High School.
“A lot of us fell short just a couple credits. But we still get our diplomas now,” she said. “This is our second chance.”
Missick was a half-credit short in a U.S. history course because her schedule got messed up, she said. Missick finished the course in the summer to be able to graduate. While at Foothill, Missick said she took some business management courses and hopes to pursue that field in the future.
Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.