Hermitage HS graduation: ‘The future is yours’

The Hermitage High School class of 2021 received two special pieces of paper at its graduation ceremony on Thursday evening. Alongside their diplomas, every graduate received a handwritten note from an HHS staff member who loves them.

“Use this as motivation, guidance or a reminder to direct your journey moving forward,” Principal Michael Jackson said to the graduates.

The students had partaken in unique and challenging journeys that led them to this night of celebration.

(View more photos from the Hermitage gradation ceremony here.)

“When we walked through the doors of Hermitage on the first day of high school, none of us expected we would be where we are today,” Valedictorian Katherine Walker told classmates during Hermitage High School’s graduation ceremony. “In fact, the class of 2021 is the class of the unexpected.”

Walker said that her peers had been put on a track for the last four years, much like the cars that usually race at Richmond Raceway, where the HHS graduates participated in commencement Thursday evening.

Carlos Alexander, a student speaker selected by a student nomination process and teacher committee, acknowledged how strong the class of 2021 had been, by using the words of Harriet Tubman.

“A quote I want you all to take with you states, ‘Every great dream begins with a dreamer,” Alexander said. “Always remember, you have the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world.”

Alexander continued to say that while the night’s event marked the end of high school, HHS graduates had only just begun a new life.

The student speakers emphasized that the class of 2021 could not have made it to this point without the support of the faculty and staff at HHS, a sentiment that Jackson echoed.

“Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you about your destination,” Jackson remarked. “Think back on your journey to the nervous days of freshman orientation, or your first day at Hermitage High School. Remember how nervous you were? I remember how nervous I was entering Hermitage as a freshman in 1992.”

Jackson continued to say that the class of 2021 had demonstrated the ability to overcome the many challenges during high school, especially in the virtual landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In doing so, graduates earned a combined total of more than $5 million in scholarships, he said.

These achievements and many more were worth celebration, Jackson said, and the class of 2021 agreed with thunderous applause.