“You’re Nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You,” that Rat Pack singalong by Dean Martin, played over the public address system at Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium more than once Saturday evening.
Just a little background music before University High School’s Class of 2022 made its procession onto the football field.
As it turned out, the 364 soon-to-be-alumni – the largest class ever in the school’s 96 years of commencement exercises, in fact – didn’t have to worry one bit about Mr. Martin’s metrics.
Nope.
That’s because the denizens of University High about to go forth were universally loved on this evening. The stadium bleachers were full.
The parking lot of the sprawling school on Bakers Ridge was more than full.
Which may have also accounted for the automotive gridlock said to be keeping whole handfuls of seniors away from the proceedings.
“If you can bear with us for just a bit,” Principal Kim Greene said politely into the microphone at the podium.
“Some of our kids are stuck in traffic.”
The scheduled 5 p.m. event finally got going some 35 minutes later, thanks in part to a UHS alum who started his own University Uber (only for free) to scoop up his brother and sister Hawks who were trying to walk – so they could walk.
Applause rippled down in waves as they marched onto the turf.
“These kids have grit,” Greene said before the ceremony.
“They took everything with grace. I’m glad they finally got to have some normalcy for their senior year.”
That included the day before, when fears over inclement weather prompted school district officials to reschedule for Saturday.
Meanwhile, classmates Paige Keirns and Joshua Kerns – linked to shared experience with their names separated by a vowel – were both happily ready to put UHS in the rear view, they said.
Paige, who graduated earlier from the Monongalia County Technical Education Center, has already been hired by a hospital and plans further study for a career in the medical field.
“I’m going to enjoy commencement,” she said, “and I’m really excited to get going.”
Joshua, who will major in history in the fall, said he’ll always remember the unprecedented history of the pandemic he and classmates are still living through.
“No one has had the experience we’ve had,” he said. Like a historian, he mused on what will come of it all.
“I do have hope for the future,” he said.
Class President Ian Gillespie, meanwhile, touched on that grit his principal referred to earlier.
Don’t hesitate if an opportunity comes your way, he said.
“And don’t pull your punches.”
TWEET@DominionPostWV
