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<\/p>\nStudents reflected on hard work, future plans and community support during Ray High School\u2019s senior awards ceremony. \n<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Seniors at W.B. Ray High School gathered with classmates, families and alums on Friday for the school\u2019s senior awards assembly as graduation celebrations continue across Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n
The ceremony honored graduating seniors for their academic achievements, scholarships, and honors earned throughout the school year, while students reflected on the next chapter of their lives.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s kind of surreal,\u201d senior Daniel Lee said. \u201cI spent 12 years trying to work for something. It\u2019s really great seeing this world where I can finally make the last step and really go into that next stage of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee encouraged younger students to stay focused and find their purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s here for no reason,\u201d Lee said. \u201cOnce you find it, really grasp it and then work and give it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior Adam Aguilar said the large turnout showed the strong support students receive from the community and their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels great,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cIt just shows support and shows that we did something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguilar said he plans to attend Texas A&M University after graduation.<\/p>\n
Another senior, Maddie Aguas, said receiving honors during the ceremony made the moment feel bittersweet as graduation approaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good,\u201d Aguas said. \u201cStarting as a freshman and now here, it\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguas advised younger students to continue showing up even when school becomes difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep motivating yourself every day even when school gets hard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saara Bindingnavele said the strong support system at Ray High School helped students succeed through challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really great that there\u2019s such a great support system here at Ray,\u201d Bindingnavele said.<\/p>\n
She plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin to major in nutrition while pursuing a dual degree through the honors program.<\/p>\n
The event also included scholarship presentations from the Ray High School Class of 1975 alum group.<\/p>\n
Lynette Haynes said the alum association raised $20,000 during its recent 50th reunion, allowing the group to award four $5,000 scholarships this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to pay it forward,\u201d Haynes said. \u201cWe\u2019re proud that we\u2019re from Corpus Christi. We\u2019re proud that we\u2019re from WB Ray Texans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haynes said alums hope to continue expanding the scholarship program in future years to help graduating seniors pursue college and career goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students reflected on hard work, future plans and community support during Ray High School\u2019s senior awards ceremony. CORPUS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-304905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}