001I see the light. I see Good afternoon and welcome to our 2021 graduation ceremony. My name is Kelly Creasy and I have the pleasure being the principal of the Tucson campus. Joining me this afternoon is our assistant principal Flint Fears. Our assistant superintendent Dr. Kristen Rex. And our superintendent Annette Reichman. I would like to invite Amira Hepner and Ronan Roy to come forward and invite everyone to please stand as they lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. While this year's ceremony will be different than those of years past, we feel extremely grateful to be able to have you join us in celebrating our graduates.
002It was not until March of this year that we thought this would even be possible. I understand that it is not quite on the scale that you had hoped or imagined, but it is still an extremely special moment for these five individuals. Before we start the video portion of our ceremony, I want to offer some words of appreciation. First, to you parents and families. Thank you for supporting these students and us as we navigated through this very unusual school year. I know that online learning was overwhelming at times, and the uncertainty of moving between online and in-person was not easy. We couldn't have done it without you, so thank you. Next, to the staff sitting here today and the ones watching us on live stream. Thank you for going above and beyond to ensure that
003learning was not only meaningful and fun this year, but also ensuring that students felt connected even when learning from a distance. Your passion and dedication was evident from day one and has only increased as the school year continued. I also want to thank Carrie Hodgkinson, Dora Baldwin, Sarah Dunst, and all of our shop students who put together these crates for our graduates. Special thanks to Kim Greer for hand painting each one. Finally, to our graduates. Thank you for hanging in there. Thank you for staying positive and thank you for being so determined to complete your high school career on a high note. We could not be more prouder of the young men and women you have become. The next portion of our ceremony has been pre-recorded. I hope that you enjoy our reflections on this
004school year. A graphic appears. ASDB Tucson Graduation 2021. ASDB Principal Kelly Creasy appears on the screen. She begins to give her speech. Hello class of 2021. What a senior year you have experienced. It's definitely one for the record books. Some of you were online all year and some of you moved between online and in person. No matter where way attended your classes from, I know that it has not been easy. But here you are about to graduate. You were persistent, you persevered, and now you're ready to take your diploma and head out into the world. We are so proud of all that you have accomplished. Today we celebrate our five graduates: Esai, Mercedes, Amira, Crystal, and Ronan. You have grown up before our eyes, and each one of you holds a special place in our
005hearts. We are sad to see you go, but we are excited to see where the next part of your journey will take you. Esai has been attending ASDB since he was 3 years old. He is someone that truly embodies the idea of greeting every stranger as a friend. Esai is looking to work in a day program after graduation, preferably in a program that would allow him the opportunity to interact with and help other people. Mercedes is one of our work education success stories. She's a quick learner, and her employers love her. She has participated in the work education program throughout high school and has recently worked at Walgreens, and this year as a maintenance worker in the ASDB maintenance department. She plans to return home to Globe and live with her family. She's pursuing employment
006in either retail or maintenance work. The two two sign campus maintenance crew is saying they would like her to apply for an opening in maintenance coming up this January when Ray retires. They love her. Amira has a smile that will light up a room. Her positive attitude is contagious, and we will all miss seeing that smile on campus every day. Amira has completed 3 years of early childhood education program at JTED. She's currently completing an intensive job training program through Goodwill. After graduation, Amira wants to continue her studies in early childhood education at Pima Community College. She has a strong desire to work in the field of early childhood education helping young children to learn. Crystal can always be counted on to give her best effort. She's a caring and conscientious student who will always
007check on how you're doing. Chris enjoys learning languages and has a passion for naturopathic medicine. After graduation, she plans to continue living with her grandmother in Tucson and enroll in classes at Pima Community College. She wants to work as a transcriptionist transcribing English into Spanish and vice versa. Ronan has grown and matured over his time at ASDB. He has learned how to overcome obstacles and he has shown a strong determination to graduate. During his time on campus, he has participated in the goalball and track teams and enjoyed cooking and assisting with meals in the dorms. After graduation, he plans to continue his post-secondary training in the culinary arts field to become a chef and relocate to the Phoenix area. Throughout your time on campus and especially this year, you have all demonstrated persistence. Persistence is
008defined as the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people. Perseverance is steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Being persistent is a skill that anyone can develop. A baby doesn't give up every time they fall when they're learning how to walk. They pull themselves up and try again. In fact, they never stop trying to walk. They keep trying for as long as it takes. It never occurs to them that they might fail. So, they repeat the process in spite of the bruises and bumps along the way. Now, what about you? How many times have you pulled yourself back up when you become bumped and bruised? Most successful people have failed at one time or the
009other, and some have failed many times. The difference between those who fail and those who succeed are the successful ones learn from their failed attempts and persist anyhow. They realize that failure is the road to achievement. Failure is simply a price we pay to succeed. One of my favorite writers, John C. Maxwell, has this to say about Perseverance draws sweetness out of adversity. He continues, "The trials and pressures of life and how we face them often define us." Confronted by adversity, many people give up while others will rise up. How do those who succeed do it? They persevere. They find the benefits them personally that come from any trial. And they recognize that the best thing about adversity is coming out on the other side of it. There is a sweetness to overcoming your troubles
010and finding something good in the process, however small it may be. What is perseverance? It is persistent determination. Even by reading the word or hearing the word perseverance will give you energy and packs a powerful punch. Perseverance is the foundation of great achievers. Is the cornerstone of talent. It is the companion to determination. This determination can be found in every walk of life and every age. We succeed because we are determined to succeed, not destined to succeed. I think you are all determined young people. You kept working hard over and over again. The greatest achievers don't simply sit back and wait for success to come along. These achievers keep moving forward and persevering because they are determined. There's just no getting around it. Persistence is the key to success. When we persevere, there is nothing,
011not one thing that will stop us. Og Mandino said, "I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail, I will take another and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I know that small attempts repeated will complete any undertaking." Class of 2021, you've demonstrated persistence and you have persevered through one of the most difficult years. We know that your determination and drive will allow you to do great things and accomplish the goals you have set. Congratulations on your graduation. We are proud of you and we will miss you. White screen transitions to a photo slideshow featuring old photographs of Amira as a child. The screen transitions again into three photos, this time of Crystal. The screen now transitions into a
012central photo of Mercedes playing outside with a pink butterfly toy resting in her mouth. A photo appears on the left and right hand side. A large photo of Esai now appears in the center featuring him smelling a beautiful wildflower bush. William is shown on the screen in a group photo on the left where he and friends have posed with the Arizona Cardinals mascot. The screen now cuts to a video of Amira. My favorite memory is playing volleyball. All sports, actually. Basketball, track. Being able to see everybody's faces. Whereas now, it's not like that due to COVID with everybody wearing masks. It's not the same as it was before. A home recorded video of Esai appears. I'm grateful for um finishing both on my friends. My favorite memory was um finishing high school and um joking
013around with my friend Ariana cuz we do that a lot. Mercedes is shown sitting down outside. I'm happy that I worked at Walgreens and as a maintenance assistant. My teachers, Clarice, Shelly, and math was really tough, but I learned. And work education, too. Crystal is shown sitting down outside wearing pink Mr. Bosetti as a science teacher because he was always very, very funny. I'm grateful because all of the teachers, not just this year, but from all these years that they have been helping me here at ASDB. A new screen shows Ronan sitting outside on campus. The most thing that I'm proud of is that I was able to get taught and get educated by teachers around me and the people that I hung out with. Um most thing I'm grateful for is the school that
014around me, the peers and the teachers that were able to educate me, um teach me and bring me up to an adult. So, mostly that life experience that I would have to face challenges when I grow up. Amira is shown again outside as she begins signing. to thank my work at teacher. Thank you so much. I was able to go to classes, plus teach, which is the goal of mine. Thank you for helping me achieve and graduate high school this year. Crystal is shown again outside speaking. sent to my counselors. Thank you guys for all teachers, counselors, and graduation friends. Thank you guys for helping me. Everything was so nice since I came from when I was in fifth grade. Everything went out very nice, and I am so thankful for ASDB. Finally, Ronan is
015shown sitting outside speaking. Mostly, I'm going to be missing all you guys, missing my peers around me that I was close to, and stay educated. But, I'm really sad that I can't see anybody else when I leave this school. So. Later. It fades into a graphic that reads, "A message from Superintendent Annette Reichman." It fades into a video of Annette Reichman. She begins to sign. Hello. My name is Annette Reichman. I'm the Superintendent of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Today, I want to talk about What did I want to talk about? Oh, that's right. Our seniors. All of you seniors ready to graduate. The class of 2021. You are ready to get your diploma. That is amazing. I've been thinking about your experience over the last 13 years. You've made
016a lot of progress to get the diploma. Your experience has been different than any other students who have graduated in the past. How has it been different? Of course, you'll remember that as you were juniors last year attending school and taking your classes with your teachers and your fellow students, everything had been going well. And then in March of 2020, our entire world turned upside down. Schools all over the country were closing and you couldn't come to your school. We had to scramble to figure out how we could continue your education because you wanted to complete high school, right? We had to find a way to get you laptops and internet access. Your teachers had to figure out how to educate you virtually. You had a virtual education last spring. And then you came back
017to school in the fall. And again, you weren't allowed to attend in person. You had to stay home. That was an incredible challenge for all of you. You did what you had to do. You persevered. You took your courses. You logged online every day. You worked with your teachers, your friends, your fellow students until you were able to come back to school in person in October. Then we got to December and again in January, we had to go back to virtual education for a month. You had to take your classes online again with your teachers. What an incredible challenge for you, for your parents, and for your teachers, as well as the rest of the staff. Everybody stuck with it and did what they had to do until finally in February we were able to
018come back in person and we have been in person for the last 4 months. You've been able to come to class and I am so incredibly proud of you. You have persevered through so much. Even though the world turned upside down, you maintained your focus. You did your homework, you attended your classes, you engaged with your teachers. You wanted to graduate. And now you are graduating. You have met every challenge head-on. You have overcome every obstacle. And again, I have to say that I am so very proud of you and I am so impressed with everything that you have accomplished through these circumstances. You know, the world has changed drastically over the last year. There has been a lot of discussion about a racial reckoning. This means black and brown people should be given the
019same respect and the same opportunities as all other people, as those of us who are white. Last year in 2020 during the election, there was a great deal of controversy about who was actually president and who was not president. And again, you maintained your focus. Your life, your homework, all of the requirements you had to complete to graduate, you did. And today is your day. Today you can celebrate. But, be aware that once you've graduated, that does not mean that you can stay home and lounge on the couch and do nothing. Absolutely not. You have attained those skills of perseverance and meeting challenges head-on. Those are skills that you now have, and you can go out and use those skills for the rest of your life. You can go on to higher education, college, university,
020technical school, job training, or something right away. Use those skills that you have acquired for the rest of your life. Again, I must say, your experience is so unique. No other graduating class has had your experience. And you made it. Congratulations, class of 2021. A graphic appears. ASDB Tucson Graduation 2021. I now invite Danielle Barnes and Brian Newton to come forward for the presentation of the diplomas. Seniors, when your name is called, please stand up, leave your face mask on your chair, and come forward. Once you've received your diploma, moved your tassel, and have your picture taken, please return to your seat and put your face mask back on so that the next student can be called. Esai, Ramon, Lancaster, Acuña. Mercedes Ariana Cabrera Amira Netsanet Shenard Hepner Crystal Aurora Quintero Romero Ronan, Anthony, Roy.
021Class of 2021, please stand and turn and face your families. I proudly present the AST Tuson class of 2021. STAFF, I'M GOING TO ASK THAT YOU please make your way to the parking lot. Parents and families, can you please make your way down and pick up your graduates crate and join them by their seats. I got this feeling inside my bones. It goes electric wavy when I turn it on. Off through my city, off through my home. We're flying up, no ceiling when we in our zone. I got that sunshine in my pocket. Got that good soul in my feet. I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops. I can't take my eyes off of it. Moving so phenomenally. Come on, I like the way we rock it. So, don't stop it.
022It's under the lights when everything goes. Nowhere to hide when I'm getting you close. When we move, well, you already know. To kiss the magic. Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance. Feel hot good creeping up on you, so just dance, dance, dance. Come on. All those things I shouldn't do, but you dance, dance, dance. Ain't nobody leaving, so so keep dancing. I can't stop the feeling. So, just dance, dance, dance. I can't stop the feeling. So, just dance, dance, dance. Come on. Ooh, it's something magic. Families, we're going to make sure that you have your sign that is yours to take with you, and then