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Schools

Richards High Graduation: Out of the Past, Into the Future

The world just got bigger for Richards High School graduates, but many people think they can handle it.

Once a year, the hallways of Richards High School bustle with seniors who aren't there to learn, but to graduate.

As the lined up against their lockers on Thursay, waiting for the band to strike the first notes of “Pomp and Circumstance,” they joked around with their friends, smiled for the cameras and spoke with favorite teachers about graduation-party plans.

Like many graduates before them, they'd yet to fully realize that .

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“It’s so hard to compile every memory and emotion that came with this experience,” said class president Holly Brenza to a gymnasium full of faculty, parents and peers. “But what’s even harder is facing this moment, and realizing that this chapter of our lives is ending.”

Whether “heartbroken” or “completely ready to face the next step,” Brenza added, most graduates were nostalgic during the ceremony. She recalled her classmates at the start of high school – a timid bunch of freshmen, easily misled by upperclassmen.

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“We struggled to find our place...that meant being pushed in the hallways or ridiculed in pep rallies,” she said. “We [later] realized there were no such things as elevator passes or a third floor.”

She continued to speak of her class when they were sophomores, having stronger friendships, and a growing role in school sports, clubs and music.

“Everything was simple,” she said. “Nobody was telling you to prepare for college or junior year yet.”

When it came down to it, senior year was the best in Brezna's life, she said. But all four years shaped her into the person she is today, and it's no different for her graduating class.

“No matter where each of your lives takes you,” she closed, “you’ll always be a Richards Bulldog.”

Prospects become realities

Many RHS graduates will head off to college, five will join the armed forces – from the U.S. Marines and the Air Force, to the Navy Reserves and Army– and some will attend trade school to hone a craft.

Emmitt Rule, a RHS graduate who'll study music in the Fall at Columbia College in Chicago, came from a family with musical genes, and he's ready to put them into notes.

“I'm relieved and excited,” said Rule's mother, who sings in her church choir. “I hope someday he'll be a well known musician, playing in an orchestra, jazz group or church”

Rule has matured greatly in the last year alone, and his mother couldn't be happier.

“He realizes he has to get ready,” she continued. “He has to step out into the real world; he has to change his whole way of thinking in order to succeed.”

Graduate Donna Bean, who'll attend in the fall, plans on becoming a nurse.

“We're very proud of her,” Bean's mother said, as she smiled at her daughter. “She's matured into a young lady – keen, head-smart and determined. If she wants something, she'll go after it."

There's no doubt, the future looks bright for RHS graduates.

But only because it's lit by the past, said Barbara Blizzard-Pizan, who received the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award that evening.

“Who I am today, and the successes that I achieved,” Pazan stressed, “are the result of the time I spent at Richards.”

A graduate of the Class of 1987, Pazan helped lead her high school to a state-volleyball championship in 1986. As a student and an athlete from RHS, she continued to excel at the sport she loved while attending Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.

“You've had a great start here at Richards,” Pazen reminded graduating seniors before they accepted their diplomas. “Now it's your turn to take what you've learned, and make the rest of your lives the best that they can be.”

As the last graduate received his diploma and walked off stage, the Class of 2011 beamed with excitement.

Tassels to the left, hats anxious to be thrown in the air, graduates were given their last high school assignment.

“I'll say it one last time,” said RHS Principal John Hallberg. “Treat others the way you'd want to be treated.”

Congratulations Richard High School Class of 2011, and good luck!

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