There has been a whirlwind of graduations this past week. Here are some highlights:
Hernando High School’s Valedictorian, Gabrielle Healis’ brother, Will Healis, is a Hernando High alumni and just graduated from West Point.
There were numerous graduates from Hernando High who have enlisted and will be joining the Armed Forces after graduation.
There will be nine graduates from Weeki Wachee High School in the military after graduation. Nakyia Holmes, Jackson Duhon, Janee Estep, and Benjamin Brooks will be joining the US Army. Logan Messer and Viktor Rosa will be joining the US Navy. Joining the US Air Force is Patrick Passons. Joseph Retcho and Kyle Rinaldi will be joining the US Marines.
Ten students from Nature Coast graduated high school with their Associate’s Degrees from Pasco Hernando State College: Danika Abbadessa, Jack Benoist, Ashley Bowerfind, Jessie Darby, Gina Doherty, Emma Gagne, Genelle Leo, Ryker Pallante, Daisy Ruiz, Ashlyn Senzig, and Vanessa Vastano.
Students from Nature Coast who will be serving our country upon graduation are Lilyana Austin- US Army, Brianna Fennell- US Army, Sean Halloran- US Army, Jeremias Hernandez- US Navy, Jamie Isaacs- US Navy, Brian Pratser- US Marines, Carlos Santiago- US Air Force.
Ashley Bowerfind graduated from Nature Coast with a GPA of 4.7263. Her GPA broke a record as the highest in Nature Coast history. She also currently has a 4.0 at the University of Florida and will be attending New York University in the fall.
At Wider Horizons School, they hosted a retired NFL football player as their commencement speaker. Tyrone Goodson attended Parrott Middle School and Central High School. After starring in high school, Tyrone went on to play for Auburn University. There he played in 24 games from 1996 to 1997, scored 12 touchdowns, and caught 90 receptions for a total of 1691 yards. Once getting his degree from Auburn, Tyrone played for the Green Bay Packers. Since his retirement from the NFL, Tyrone has coached youth teams and puts on clinics to help improve young athletes’ skills.
Some words of wisdom from Tyrone Goodson: “A lot of these kids think they have to make it in sports… Well, you can work around that same situation. You don’t have to be a football player. You can be a referee. Referees can make nice money. You can be a coach, you can be a GM. You can be anything you want to be, to be around sports. You don’t always have to be an athlete. You can always stay around the facets of the game.” Goodson was a good student and an amazing young athlete. He had an incredible dedication to succeeding in life and shared his mentality of success with the students at Wider Horizons.
