SAGUACHE — Seven seniors graduated from Mountain Valley High School Saturday during a ceremony in Bennett Gymnasium that honored not only the senior class but all classes at the school as well as the class of 1967.
Kindergarten, elementary, middle school and high school students all marched across the stage to the song “Best Day of My Life” with flags showing their graduating year as future Mountain Valley success stories.
Taking the stage were graduates Jacob Chavez, Alice Cross, Stephanie Gollihugh, Julian Miller, Francisco Perez, Danny Rodriguez and Brandon Stewart. The class flower was the rose, the class song “Today My Life Begins,” by Bruno Mars and class colors were red, back and silver.
The class motto was, “Don’t count the days, make the days count,” a quote from Mohammed Ali. Class sponsors were Amanda Burgess, Kaitlyn Hazard and Megan Strauss.
Daniel Rodriguez was class valedictorian and Stephanie Gollihugh was salutatorian. Both earned numerous scholarship awards.
In addressing graduates, Superintendent Travis Garoutte emphasized the importance of taking risks and learning from mistakes. “Live every day as if it were your last,” he advised. “When one door closes another opens to the future — step through it…Make an impact; change the world for the better.”
School board president Mona Lovato told graduates to treat people the way they themselves want to be treated, because the world needs nicer, kinder, people in it. She also stressed the usefulness of making mistakes in life, because some of life’s greatest lessons are learned from the worst mistakes. She ended her address by reminding the class that being right is not always as important as doing what’s right.
Rodriguez called the school his “home away from home” and told his classmates that big changes lay ahead in their lives. He urged them to find a passion that is really worth it, reminded them that that passion is not money but their connection to other people and how they can impact them.
He thanked his teachers and especially his parents, commenting, “They are the reason I am what I am. My family and friends supported me through the good and the bad.” He concluded by wishing his classmates happiness, success and love.
In a brief address, Gollihugh thanked her family, friends and teachers and remembered the many good times she had with her classmates.
A reception for graduates and their families followed in the gym.