MHS graduates revel in a ‘normal’ ceremony

With a huge step toward normalcy, the Class of 2021 at Maricopa High School graduated live and in person Wednesday night on the football field – with hundreds of family and friends in attendance.

With 463 graduates participating in the school’s first pre-pandemic graduation ceremony, the bleachers at Ram Stadium were packed to near-capacity. Graduates from the Class of 2020, which settled for a drive-thru event last May due to COVID-19 restrictions, were invited to walk in the ceremony ahead of the 2021 graduates. About two dozen did.

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It was a relatively normal high school commencement, with most graduates celebrating by hugging family and friends, cheering each other without a mask and congratulating each other for surviving a year unlike any other. The raucous event was a fitting end to a tumultuous, yet gratifying year. A few students wore masks as the walked onto the field for the festivities.

Not everyone thought this day would come – at least not in this form.

Graduating senior Makenna Decker thought her class would have to have the same kind of ceremony as last year’s.

“I definitely did not think we’d have a graduation like this,” she said. “I thought we would be doing the drive-thru graduation 100%. But it’s really nice to be here and actually graduate with the rest of my peers.”

Former teacher and football coach Brandon Harris was more optimistic when the school year started.

“Sure, I thought we’d be here,” he said. “I’m always optimistic. It’s great, it’s progress. People are getting better, people are getting vaccinated, they’re getting healthy. More than that, it’s just the kids being able to be kids and enjoy an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime they don’t get to do it again. It’s a fun night.”

Brad Vericker, a psychology and sociology teacher and varsity baseball coach, praised the staff for getting through a unique and challenging year.

“I didn’t know if we’d get to this day given how everything was so up in the air,” Vericker said. “But the staff and the administration and all the teachers, they worked really hard. We’ve got an amazing staff so it’s not surprising to me that we got here. I teach a lot of seniors, and it’s amazing to see them walking across that stage tonight.”

Special education teacher Jennifer Parker, whose son Jamison was among the graduates, was happy the ceremony represented a return to the way things used to be.

“It’s a kind of normalcy,” she said. “We’ve all been looking forward to just being normal because this year has not been normal. I think this is a big deal. The kids are excited. I’m glad we did something for the 2020 kids as well. They kind of missed out, so it was great that we gave them that opportunity.”

Marlene Armstrong, assistant principal for Career and Technical Education this year and the principal of the new high school going up on the east side of town, said the night was huge for everyone involved.

“Oh my gosh, it’s everything,” she said. “Graduation is really for the families, not as much for the kids. It is for the kids, but the family is the ones who have put in the work for the past 19 years, so this is an opportunity for the families to come and surround the kids and celebrate with them, and also to launch them into adulthood.

“This is the ceremony that launches them into adulthood – and it’s an amazing thing.”