Sachse High School graduates celebrate the conclusion of commencement exercises with the traditional cap toss Wednesday, May 20, at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland as they officially close one chapter and prepare for the next. Photo Tina Lopez\/The Sachse News<\/p>\n
By Allison LaBrot |\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n Sachse High School\u2019s Class of 2026 celebrated its achievements during\u00a0commencement exercises\u00a0Wednesday, May 20. The ceremony for the 741 graduates was held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.\u00a0<\/p>\n The processional began with an array of flags representing the many cultures that made up the Class of 2026. The highest-ranking student from each nation carried a flag. The Sachse High School Wind Ensemble performed \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner,\u201d featuring senior Braxton Blankenship as vocal soloist.\u00a0<\/p>\n Student Council President Sophia Mary Olalde Taylor led the Pledge of Allegiance and Texas Pledge.<\/p>\n Senior class president Amsi Simei Orozco and Garland ISD superintendent Ricardo L\u00f3pez welcomed graduates, guests and administrators. L\u00f3pez also recognized Saniya Reed and Brooklynn White for displaying \u201cgrit\u201d throughout their journeys to graduation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The program continued with a performance of \u201cFrom Sea to Shining Sea\u201d by the school\u2019s wind ensemble and A Cappella choir.<\/p>\n Principal Shae Creel\u2019s praised the graduating class for its diverse academic and extracurricular achievements. He also encouraged graduates to reflect on their high school years and find joy in the journey before them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI charge each and every one of you to get out of your comfort zone, experience the world and all it has to offer, make good decisions, be a good person to everyone and know that we love you,\u201d Creel said.<\/p>\n Salutatorian Michelle Chung expressed gratitude for the community of people that supported the Class of 2026 and specifically thanked her parents for their care and sacrifices. While acknowledging the different paths her classmates will take, Michelle also reminded the audience of their shared humanity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all have the ability to learn, to change, to be curious and to dream,\u201d she said, \u201cAs we do that though, it is inevitable that we will make silly mistakes and mess up, but if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned from high school \u2026 it is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Valedictorian\u00a0Imanol Matos Col\u00f3n\u00a0dedicated his speech to his grandparents and reflected on a question he has considered throughout high school: \u201cWhat does it truly mean to be human?\u201d He said his answer now differs from the one he would have given as a freshman.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, to be human means to feel emotion, the good, the bad and the in-between,\u201d Imanol said.<\/p>\n He also thanked teachers, friends and family members who taught him what it means to be human and live in the present.\u00a0<\/p>\n School board trustee Wes Johnson,\u00a0who also celebrated the milestone as the father of one of the graduates, shared remarks during the ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cThe value of one\u2019s life is not measured by how safely it was lived,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cThe value of one\u2019s life is measured by how fully it is lived.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to receiving high school diplomas, 131 students were honored for receiving associate degrees.<\/p>\n Soloist Sidney Mallari led the alma mater, and the ceremony concluded with the traditional cap toss and the wind ensemble performing John Williams\u2019 \u201cCoronation March\u201d for the recessional.<\/p>\n Stay informed and support your local community newspaper \u2014\u00a0subscribe to\u00a0The Sa<\/a>chse News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sachse High School graduates celebrate the conclusion of commencement exercises with the traditional cap toss Wednesday, May 20,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-312760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312760","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=312760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}