Roxborough Celebrates Changing of the Guard in 2012 Graduation

Nearly every speaker at the 2012 Roxborough High School graduation alluded to one fact: The Ridge Avenue high school is remarkably different than it was four years ago.

At the 129th commencement for 116 students received diplomas. Next fall, 99 plan to attend two or four-year colleges and four more will enter the armed services.

Each senior entered Roxborough when it annually made the persistently dangerous schools list and possessed a reputation for fights and poor academics. Students, faculty and alumni celebrated not only the passing of the Class of 2012, but poor reputation Roxborough has shed.

"We are the last of a class that entered Roxborough before a dramatic change," student Brittany Fisher said, reading from the school's year book.

This is the class that will take home $300,000 in scholarships to attend college next year. The class that helped remove the school from the persistently dangerous schools list. The class that earned an accommodation from the PA Department of Education for achieving the largest gain among school improvement grant institutions.

Students, like salutatorian Frank Legrady, commended Principal Stephen Brandt and his staff for helping the class reach this point.

"We walked into this huge building and saw huge kids banging on each other to our right side and others smashing lockers to our left side," he said.

"Nearly halfway through our time here, a shining light stepped into our marbled hallway... Mr. Brandt made immediate changes, held students accountable for negative behavior and supported any positives he saw."

Brandt, an alumni, led the turnaround that raised PSSA scores in math and reading, respectively, by 17.2 percent and 7.2 percent. He struck a hopeful tone in his remarks to graduates.

"As you move on today, I expect you to dream more, work harder, and most importantly, you will not accept failure as an ending, but rather use any failure as a catalyst for success," he said.

Valedictorian Nina Longasa compared life to a video game in her speech—saying that completing the high school level is one of many stages in life.

"Just as we have survived the many challenges and obstacles of high school, so shall we emerge victorious from the conflicts and challenges of our future... We will win this game," she said.

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