- November 23, 2024
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“Sweet Caroline” played throughout the Ocean Center while family and friends of the Seabreeze High School graduating class of 2022 sang the lyrics and waved their cell phone lights on Friday, May 27.
Seabreeze principal Earl Johnson said good morning to the “Sandcrab nation” as he presented the graduates to the crowd. Student Council co-president Brody Ochipa led the Pledge of Allegiance and was followed by “The Star-Spangled Banner,” sung by Lila Massabeau. People in the stands took over the song when the microphone cut out midway through her performance.
Valedictorian Ria Gupta will be attending the University of Central Florida and majoring in biochemistry. She spoke to her fellow graduates about the three essentials the Seabreeze community had taught them—support each other, adapt and keep it balanced. She parted with a quote from the writer and composer Anthony Burgess:
“It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going.”
Johnson commended the graduating class members for their resilience, perseverance, determination and fortitude, which had helped them overcome the pandemic’s obstacles. Three hundred and forty-six graduates received their diplomas, with 45 as members of the National Honor Society, 17 with an AVID designation and 55 Cambridge AICE candidates. According to Johnson, 48% of the seniors graduated summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude. They have accumulated over 28,249 community service hours and have attained over $5.6 million dollars in scholarships. Eleven students have already earned associate degrees from Daytona State College.
Johnson has been Seabreeze’s principal for one year but exclaimed it had been the best year out of his 33-year career.
“You are not the passive victim of circumstance, you are the action hero of your own journey,” he said.