Stevenson Graduates Made Their Mark

Proud parents and happy family members filled almost every available seat on the first floor of the Sears Centre Thursday night as more than 1,100 students graduated from .

Parents cheered and stood to snap photos as graduates wearing bright green gowns topped by caps with yellow and green tassels filled rows of seats on the floor of the arena.

The rapid-fire, hour-and-15 minute ceremony, broadcast live to the school’s website and interrupted more than once by students bouncing smuggled-in beach balls, was highlighted by seniors Amanda Gilbert and Shefali Arora, who were selected to address their classmates.

Gilbert said during their four years at Stevenson, her classmates became heroes by “helping thousands of people in the community and around the world.”

She said the Class of 2011 raised more than $1 million for local charities and $5,000 for victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

The Class of 2011 did “not just survive high school,” she said, “but made something out of it.”

She thanked parents, family and friends for “all the love and support” and “the sacrifices you made for our success.”

She urged her classmates to “continue to do what you have been doing throughout high school and be proud of the person you have become.”

Arora said she was proud of her fellow classmates and that despite the country’s unstable economy and controversial figures who serve as questionable role models, the Class of 2011 has a great opportunity “to prove everyone wrong.”

“There is so much more we can learn,” she said, “if we are willing to let life teach it to us.”

Arora and Gilbert were among a class that school officials said was awarded $32.4 million in scholarships.

When the ceremony ended, the graduates shouted for joy as they filed out the door to an open area behind the arena.

But when one graduate was asked if she was relieved that graduation—and her high school years—were over,  she seemed a bit uncertain.

“Well, sort of,” she said.

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