Q.I. grads celebrate ‘escape’

Graduation season concluded Saturday evening as Q.I. Roberts Junior-Senior High School hosted its commencement ceremony in Palatka.

The 69 graduates of the Florahome school had their graduation at Veterans Memorial Stadium, where their classmates and principal encouraged them to take what they’ve learned to make the best of their futures.

Al’leah Ford, the student government president, told her fellow Knights to be determined and let their light shine bright as they walk into adult life.

“Although we are unsure what journey lies ahead … we are prepared,” Ford said. “I mean, we’ve been training for the last six years for this moment. Go out there and show the world how us Knights do it.”

Given how she compared the class of 2023’s time at Q.I. Roberts to the Disney movie “Tangled,” it could be fair to assume she has been looking forward to graduation for a while.

After six years of junior-senior high school, she said, it is finally time to get away.

“Instead of being trapped by an evil witch wishing to be young forever, we were trapped by a knight,” Ford said. “That’s six long years we have been stuck in this tower out in the middle of nowhere. I think we can all agree it’s time to let down our hair and escape.”

Principal Joe Theobold said he had faith the graduates would do well after they graduated from high school. Students have done well in classes and know how to lead in organizations, Theobold said, but there are other things that could prove difficult as graduates begin college, vocational school, the military or other paths.

“The difficulty will come in knowing how to navigate the new experience of being away from home or in a different setting, working with different people and creating new networks of friends and colleagues,” he said. “In other words, the very human difficulties that can stand in the way of your success.”

As the class of 2023 embarks on their future, Theobold said, it is important to draw from a well-rounded set of skills. People entering science, technology, engineering and math fields should also remember the “understood truth” of poetry and literature, he said. History doesn’t repeat itself, Theobold said, but “it often rhymes,” so graduates should draw upon the past to help guide their futures.

“Your future, and the hope I have for the future of us all, is in your humanity,” he said. “What you have been able to develop over the course of your lifetime at Q.I. is a thorough understanding of our interconnectedness.

“You have done the work, your teachers have developed you well and I am profoundly proud of the people you are becoming.”

In her farewell address, graduate Samantha Harper commended her class on their resilience, especially given how they had to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic during their freshman and sophomore years.

Harper said people find themselves in different seasons at different times of their lives, and people would be wise to not rush through those seasons.

As graduates navigate the world beyond high school, she said, they should fully embrace their seasons and help others as they go through theirs.

“Commonly in life, we as individuals make an effort to fast forward through our different seasons,” Harper said. “We cannot change our seasons or rush through them. Rather, we are given the opportunity to change ourselves. … No matter what season of life we are in, we can encourage someone else while they are in theirs. Encouraging someone else in their season can make yours brighter.”