Douglass High School seniors on Friday were the first to receive their diplomas in a Jesse Auditorium ceremony. There were 59 Douglass graduates.
The other high schools were to follow, with Rock Bridge Friday night, Hickman Saturday morning and Battle Saturday evening. Those were held in Mizzou Arena. Nearly 1,400 seniors would be graduating.
Forty-Eight students were to simultaneously receive their diploma and an associate's degree from Moberly Area Community College through the Early College Program partnership.
Rock Bridge has 498 graduates, including Presidential Scholar Shubha Gautam.
There were 463 graduates from Hickman.
It's Battle's tenth graduating class, with 353 graduating seniors.
Among those graduating from Douglass — the district's alternative high school — was Hanit Berhe, who gave one of the senior speeches.
She thanked God and said life doesn't always go as planned.
"When I grew up in Eritrea, I didn't get to attend school," Hanit said.
She had some advice for fellow students and others in the audience.
"Remember to treat others as you want to be treated," Hanit said.
She left Eritrea with her entire family when she was 10, she said after the ceremony surrounded by parents, brothers and sisters.
She received three scholarships during the ceremony and said she will study to be a nurse at Moberly Area Community College.
Other multiple scholarship winners were Lucas Hagen, three; Caitlyn Johson, two; and Melissa Vazquez, five.
Before the ceremony, friends Bryton Herlein, Sarah McGowan and Destiny Search were together standing under the shade of a tree outside Jesse Hall.
"I'm feeling really excited," Bryton said. "I'm feeling really proud. I struggled a lot, but I made it."
He will start an internship through 4-H that teaches job and life skills, he said.
"I relate to the struggles," Sarah said. "I didn't think any of us would make it, but we did."
"Douglass helped us a lot," Destiny said. "We can do anything we put our minds to."
Josh Caldwell, 20, said he was feeling nervous about receiving his "long overdue" diploma.
He said there were setbacks on the way to graduation.
"I went back and I got it," Josh said.
He will attend Moberly Area Community College.
Douglass Principal Eryka Neville in sending off the graduates called up a line from her favorite film, the "horrible and hilarious" "Death to Smoochie."
In it, a character says: "You can't change the world, but you can make a dent."
That's a charge she gave to the graduates.
"You just have to be dedicated to make a dent."
Neville had a final message to the graduates.
"You can probably say, 'dear ancestors, we understood the assignment,'" she said.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com. He's on X at @rmckinney9.
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