View Finder: My RHS Graduation Experience

In 2007, I entered the halls of Rye High School as a fresh, awkward teenage girl who I thought was prepared to meet the journey that is high school. Never would I have imagined that four years later, I would actually be leaving my second home. 

On Saturday, June 18th, I joined my 205 classmates as we graduated at the 80th annual RHS Graduation Ceremony.

We are the RHS Class of 2011: a class that has infamously never placed under 2nd in the annual hallway decorating competion. A class that was once filled with strangers, but now is filled with 205 teens that I consider friends,  and a class that has carried the Garnet pride all four years.

Sitting under the hot June sun, it finally hit me that I am graduating. My four years at Rye have been an experience. Not only have I grown as a student, but as a person. I have developed my passions in life and with the help of family, teachers and friends, I have grown.

Everything came full circle when Superintendent Dr. Shine addressed character in his speech. He commented on the importance of character and our growth as young adults. The idea of character really sums up my journey at Rye because it's where my character was and flourished. 

The ceremony was incredible, to say the least. Sitting amongst my classmates, I was the 203rd name to be called (the downside of having a last name beginning with W).

As I watched old classmates, friends and kids I have spent the better half of 14 years with, I could remember one special thing about each student. Each graduate being called was not just another name, it represented a fellow classmate of mine who has shared this rewarding journey with me. I am incredibly thankful to my teachers and classmates who have helped me grow.

Now, I am no longer a student at Rye. I am an alumnae who will be heading off to SUNY New Paltz in the fall to major in TV Production with a minor in Film. 

Check out my photographs, most of them courtesy of my father, and join the experience of my gradation.