Quitman Class of 2023 awarded diplomas

Posted 6/1/23

“You’ve been amazing,” first-year Quitman High School Principal Jeff Tittle told the Class of 2023 at Friday’s graduation.

Tittle added that one year was not enough time …

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Quitman Class of 2023 awarded diplomas

Posted

“You’ve been amazing,” first-year Quitman High School Principal Jeff Tittle told the Class of 2023 at Friday’s graduation.

Tittle added that one year was not enough time to spend with the class of 84 students.

He asked them to look behind them, at the community and family in the stands of Bud Moody Stadium.

Do not think that you are not supported, encouraged, loved and celebrated, he advised them.

Valedictorian Joisalyn (Jojo) Tarno used the theme of “time” in her address.

It’s the one thing no one has enough of, she said.

She asked her classmates to be compassionate and kind, as their parents taught them.

It’s crazy, she said, how fast the time has gone by. But they acquired more confidence and knowledge to attain new goals and “continue writing the rest of our stories.”

She encouraged them to make the most of their time, and to never waste a second.

“A day not enjoyed is a day wasted,” she concluded.

Salutatorian Helena Bautista-Mathias said this was a celebration of the turning of the page.

High school was just one step of many, she advised.

Her classmates have proved they have the perseverance to be whatever they want to be.

The reading of the class history included the notation that as freshmen, they essentially stopped going to school after spring break in 2020 due to the pandemic, and then when they did return to class that fall, everything had changed.

The top ten graduates were recognized, including Tarno, Bautista-Mathias, Bonnie VanderSchaaf, Cadence Runyan, Sarah Smith, Alan DeGorostiza, Ethan Presley, Kameran Farnham, Jennifer Castillo and Trinity Purdin.

Four class members who will be serving in the United States military were also honored: Jayden Carson, Nathan Jackson, Johnata Jones and Samuel Yates.

Tittle noted that the class had earned $1.6 million in scholarships, including $117,000 that were given locally.