It was a time for both looking back and looking ahead, as the Allen D. Nease High School Class of 2016 marked the momentous milestone of high school graduation last week.
Held May 21 at the University of North Florida Arena, the commencement ceremonies began with performances by the Nease band and concert choir, which sang “Homeward Bound” before graduates entered the arena to the traditional strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” and the applause of family and friends. Following the presentation of colors, the choir led attendees in singing the National Anthem before both school officials and graduating students addressed the audience.
Among the many speakers offering words of wisdom to the Class of 2016 was class President Gaby Greenwald, who reflected on what she had learned and gained at Nease through such activities as participating in the International Baccalaureate program, serving as an officer in the International Thespian Society and performing in school theatrical productions such as “Cinderella” and “The Crucible.”
“Nease has provided me with opportunities and experiences I otherwise would not have had,” Greenwald said, before acknowledging that for many of her classmates, the future remains to be written. “I have no idea what I want to be – and for those of you who also don’t know, it’s okay.”
For those going on to college, Greenwald said, the next four years will bring new opportunities to learn, work hard and find personal fulfillment.
“There’s a seemingly infinite number of cultures to learn from, foods to taste, live music to listen to, and experiences we can’t even fathom at this moment but that will change the way we think and the people that we become,” she said. “Life isn’t a narrow road by any means – rather a vast, vast highway. Leaving the safe environment of Nease where we’ve invested four years of our lives will be harder than we so easily claim. But I encourage you to take advantage of this time in our lives, this opportunity to find what really fulfills you.
“Don’t be comfortable with being comfortable,” she concluded. “Live with passion.”
Following remarks by class Salutatorian Divya Mahesh and Valedictorian Gabriela Castello, diplomas were presented to: Fahim Abrar, Cameron Adams, Payton Agel, Akriti Akhauri, Katherina Albers, Nolan Alexander, Rifa Ali, Alexis Allen, Daniel Allison, Jacob Alward, Karl Anderson, Erin Anderson, Steven Angle, Zoe Areford, Ian Areford, Connor Areford, Ryan Arena, Noah Ari, Bryce Arnold, Jefferson Ashley, Isabel Asta, Salim Awwad, Hannah Baker, Tyler Baker, Thomas Barricklow, Madeline Bassett, Brooke Bateman, Austin Bates, Michael Begun, Hanna Benkhraba, Cristian Benner, Annie Bennett, Emiley Bew, Sanjana Bhargava, Kylee Bird, Madison Bishop, Kirstyn Blair, Noah Bower, Erika Boyer, Joseph Boynton, Alexis Bradford, Christopher Bragalone, Sabrinna Broadway, Blake Brown, Zoe Brown, Ira Bryant III, Sarah Caldwell, Hayley Calvert, David Carter, Austin Carter, Richard Caserta, Gabriel Cassala, Gabriela Castello, Matthew Catalano, Delanie Causey, Alexander Celentano, Tiffany Chang, Emily Cheshire, Kathryn Choate, Theresia Chvala, Sarah Cigrand, Jenna Clark, Ellie Clark, Eric Cline, Cori Clouse, Cydney Collins, Emma Conrad, Gardner Cook, Monjeh Cooper, Robert Corneliussen, Enrique Correa-Seda, Nicolas Cort, Kameron Cortes, Michael Cotter, Taylor Cox, Zahra Crim, Amanda Crist, Jesse Cronin, Alexis Crosby, Nicholas Crupi, Casey Curley, Maxwell Dacquel, Jason Danforth Jr., Marquise Davis, Ronnie Davis, Cameron Dawson, Janessa De Leon, Bailey Deitch, Joseph Del Signore, Gabrielle DeLarm, Alexius Demello, Dakota DeRosa, Ian Diefenbach, Ember Dietrich, Daniel Dobbs, Rocco Donnelly, Daniel Donovan, Kyla Dorisca, Cole Dowdall, Aris Duffey, Dy Ana Dye, Carleigh Eagle, Kristen Eldridge, Jordan Engstrom, Mark Esteban, Katelyn Faranda, Patrick Farrar, Ciara Faubion, Michael Felder, Nikki Ferraro, Frank Ferris Jr., Jacob Fiore, Jason Fish, Mackenzie Fitzgerald, Brayden Flint, Autumn Fordham, Hannah Foster, Carter Franklin, Jared Frisch, Diane Gabriel, Dayle Galamba, Eric Garner Jr., Kendall Gibbs, Noah Gillespie, Monica Gillette, Casey Gilligan, Grady Gilligan, Riley Gilligan, Jason Ginsberg, Seth Gioe, Aanchal Goel, Alyssa Gonzales, Adrianne-Joy Gonzalez, Marin Gourlay, Cassandra Gouzos, Ishani Goyal, Ian Grady, Isabel Granados, Erin Grant, Dylan Granuzzo, Alexis Green, Gabriella Greenwald, Reeve Grinaker, Brandon Guzie, Haleigh Hallman, Gabriel Hamid, John Hamilton, Samantha Hann, Sarah Hansen, Patrick Harrell, Kendric Harris, Brendan Hatton, Austin Hayes, Austen Head, Sean Hecht, Michaela Heinrich, Patrick Henkel, Rachel Hernandez, Darielle Hess, Madyson Hickman, Stephanie Hill, Emily Hill, Madeline Hill, Oliver Hodge, Brennen Hogan, Alyssa Holden, Jade Hollis, Payton Howarth, Zachary Howell, Amber Hubbard, Reidar Hubbard, Christian Hull, October Hunter, Gabriella Hurd, Noah Hurst, Jonathan Jackson, Lorea Jackson, Riley Jackson, Olivia Jacobi, Caitlin Jacobs, Savanna Jannuzzi, Alexander Jasper, Jason Jennette, Camila Jimenez Otero, Richard Johnson II, Jeffrey Johnson, Keleb Jones, Kira Jones, Lauren Jones, Nicholas Jones, Leonard Jones, Mani Kallupurackal, Khadija Kamara, McKenna Kammerer, Owen Kay, Taylor Kellenberger, Nicolas Kelz, Troy Kennedy, Alyson Kevles, Cameron Keyser, Zaim Khan, Shaan Khosla, Liam Kiernan, Daniel King, Bailey Kinlaw, Caroline Knee, Andrew Kohn, Matthew Koolovitz, Emily La Gatta, Alessa Lacarta, Angelica Lagasca, Adam Lamb, Omar Lasheen, Justin Lee, Joshua Lee, Joshua Lemon, Aaron Lemos, Bryce Lewis, Sara Londono, Nicholas Lopez, Alec Lopez, Robert Love III, Susannah Loving, Tristen Lucessi, Alexandra Luckau, Nady Luna, Logan Lynn, Michael Maalouf, Erin Machmiller, Divya Mahesh, Jamie Mallatt, Guy Maltese, Jordan Mansker, Tala Mansouri, Hunter Martin, Aaron Martin, Damon Massey, Hayley Mastoridis, Sasha Matkovski, Kolton Matthews, Jason Mayfield Jr., Joshua Mayo, Elizabeth McAlpine, Isaac McBroom, Nathan McClintock, Paul McDaniel, Keaton McDonald, Kathleen McDonough, Stephen McEntyre, David McLaughlin, Diamond McMiller, Yehvehss Medina Rodriguez, Matthew Meszaros, Kameron Middleton, Joshua Miller, Chase Miller, Matthew Miller, Sarah Miller, Lucy Milton, Veronica Mitchell, Marco Mite-Savalza, Daniel Molis, Griffin Moody, Katelyn Moore, Robert Moorefield, Makenah Morris, Zachary Moss, Daisyana Muci, Sydney Mueller, Karyssa Mullis, Earl Nana, Lucinda Napoli, Allyssa Narciso, Rodia Nassirou, Suzanna Neal, Jared Newkirk, Cindy Nguyen, Brian Nichol, Andrew Nishimoto, Eudi Nivar, Joseph Oliveira, Bethnie Olivier, Brittany Olson, Kiana Ortiguerra, Nicholas Oti, Michelle Oum, Savanna Palesotti, Sydney Palesotti, Isabella Pantano, Chirag Patel, Ren Pathipvanich, McKenzie Patten, Hannah Pauli, Savannah Peacock, Madison Peltz, Kaitlin Pelzer, Cody Pennington, Parker Perrella, Ryan Perry, Tyler Phelps-Hatcher, Hannah Pottgieser, Katie Potts, Skyler Potts, Carter Powell, Lyndsay Powers, Jared Presley, Addison Pressly, Alexandra Prince, Austin Prince, Abigail Prohofsky, Sandhya Prusch, Nikhil Pubbi, Joshua Putzke, Maurkee Ragin, Sonia Ramirez, Hannah Range, Kelsie Register, Caitlyn Reichenbach, Tyric Reid, Sydney Reynolds, William Riley, Stephanie Rios-Medina, Natalia Rivera Jimenez, Braden Robbins, Robert Roberts II, Shannon Robinson, Jacob Roche, Alexandra Romanello, Noah Sablich, Jamie Sadlowski, Julian Sadowski, Kristin Saenz, Ashley Samuel, Marcus Sanders, Jacob Sanders, Stefan Sang, Jacqueline Sanok, Danielle Saunders, Riley Scherer, Paige Scozzaro, Sydney Searcy, Zachary Secure, Diana Semegran, Mackinley Seymour, Shivam Shah, Lindsay Sharpe, Katelyn Siebert, Daren Sitz, Kaelan Skalecki, Matthew Small, Sarah Smith, Brian Smith, Chloe Smith Lopez, Austin Solomon, Mitchell Sonntag, Meghan Soudrette, Devin Spears, Mughil Sriramvenugopal, Samuel Steinbring, Samuel Still, Gabriella Stockwell, Chad Stonier, Srinidhi Suresh, Kelsey Taylor, Olivia Taylor, Anthony Taylor, Charles Therre-Maxson, Bruce Thigpen, Stephanie Thompson, Patrick Tipton Jr., Kailey Tomkunas, Brandyn Torres, Ethan Trawick, Alexandra Turner-Huss, Jade Turski, George Umbehant, Allison Upchurch, Luke Valent, Fabian Valentin, William VanScoy, Haley Vaughn, Ryan Veazey, Alexis Vega, Diana Vera, Paige Voeks, Callie Vona, Kyle Wai, Scott Walker, Andre Walls, Bridget Walsh, Braden Warren, Gabrielle Watkins, Chloe Ways, Catherine Weedman, Allyson Weis, Zachary Weisblatt, Nicole Welle, Codi Wellesley, Garrett Wells, Brent Whiting, Dakota Wilkinson, Tabitha Willett, Olivia Williams, Bailey Williams, Jordan Willis, Alexis Wilson, Carter Wilson, Gabrielle Wilson, Devon Wilson, Priya Wright, Bradley Wright, Samuel Wright, Jerry Xiang, Zachary Yearwood, Shawn Yeschenko, Caitlin Zarzeczny, Zachary Zebott, Aaron Zellner and Joseph Zezula.
