001is [Music] fine okay social aspect oh is [Music] oh five years ago [Music] um is [Music] already today [Music] wait tomorrow night [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning buenos dias good morning our amazing eighth graders and our amazing teachers and staff everybody contributed i'd like to welcome all of you and we're so happy that we were able to have this promotion in person this morning i'm mrs rico the very proud superintendent of continental so it's so good to see all of you i'd like to welcome our board members we have president mr mcgivin we have members miss mrs and mr rich and i don't know if mr osterly or mrs allen are in the audience but we'd like to thank our governing board members for their support and allowing us to make
002this happen um today in person so we will continue with our program thank you where are my introductions scatolina good morning continental teachers and families welcome to this year's 8th grade promotion i'm carolina navarro sotelo and i'm aubry hichner we are honored to welcome you here today with us this morning is our 2021 8th grade class [Applause] good morning everyone my name is georgia smith and my name is sarah devine at this time please stand for the pledge of allegiance one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing we have the pleasure of introducing our fellow classmate travis garcia playing the star spangled banner on a saxophone [Music] so [Music] hmm [Music] um [Music] hmm [Music] hmm [Applause] before he runs away we don't like to let him run away
003he needs to stay up here with us we have mr nathan who's our director of student services who really is the jack of all trades and the foundation of setting things up and organizing so thank you mr nathan and again mrs cuevas our amazing principal thank you also we're super excited this is her second year as principal but during covet she hasn't had a full year of regular principal lean so we're excited that things should hopefully be getting back to normal [Applause] okay we have a little poem for you eighth graders this morning um real quick it's called believe in yourself and it's chicken soup for the soul if you've read chicken soup for the soul there's lots of different versions for teenagers kids teachers parents but this one is believe in yourself set your
004standards high you deserve the best try for what you want and never settle for less believe in yourself no matter what you choose keep a winning attitude and you can never lose [Music] think about your destination but don't worry if you stray because the most important thing is what you've learned along the way take all that you've become to be all that you can be soar above the clouds and let your dreams set you free we're going to miss you all 8th graders and expect great things from you for high school graduation and beyond so be the leaders and the quotes that you are thank you i want to say i'm going to miss you very much 8th graders you were so welcoming to me last year my first year geo was the first student
005that i met on this campus i didn't think i was gonna get like this but i am so proud of you you are such an amazing class of students you are beautiful inside and out you've been working so hard and this past year and a half has been very challenging but you have made it through you've persevered and i want to thank you and i want you to know that we believe in you and i cannot wait to see and hear all of the wonderful things you're going to accomplish you have a piece of my heart and i've only known you for a year and a half so i want to thank you for being who you are always stand up for what's right and do good for all you're going to do amazing things
006congratulations and i want to thank all of the parents for all of your hard work everything that you've put in all these years extended family and friends that are here we thank you this is huge this is a big accomplishment and we want you to know how much we appreciate you and your support [Applause] when i think of this class of 2021 uh the word that comes to my mind is resilient um i've been here for 14 years and i've i've watched these kids grow up um and we look at the last year and a half and as a school we kind of forged ahead and decided we were going to give options to be here on campus it came with a ton of rules a 74-page document that restricted their ability to be kids
007to a certain degree but to allow them to be here i not once heard the kids complain about those rules they followed them and they helped it so that we could be in session and that they could learn from our amazing teachers that we have here on campus when i look off on this side i see students that have chosen the online platform they remain digital there are a ton of challenges that come with remaining digital so to them and their parents resiliency just hits it right on the head as far as what these students have taken to get to this point you know there's a lot of things that we take for granted that these kids remember not a single dance all year long as an eighth grader right because of covid they get
008their first one today so they're really excited i appreciate them and their resiliency and their patience with us as they waited for us so that we can make things like this happen for them so that we were able to take those that wanted to to go on an eighth grade trip it wasn't to their desired destination of washington dc but i believe we had a good time what do you guys think so just the resilience that goes to this class i know will take them a long ways not only here today as continental cult but through their lives so keep that trade up and keep working hard [Music] congratulations pretty sure [Applause] is give it up for our i.t guys [Applause] wouldn't be right if something if we didn't have a little bit of technical
009difficulties right we think something was really strange so let's get on with the program the students and the staff the eighth grade teachers have provided a great uh presentation for you a promotion today so without further ado i know you've been waiting for our student speeches we have rihanna dorame and riley amarillas come on up ladies and gentlemen it makes me very happy to welcome our family friends teachers administrators and school board thank you all for being here with us this morning and thank you to all the people who worked together at continental school tips for our class had a proper promotion to celebrate all of our hard work i know that this is nothing like how we thought our 8th grade year would turn out when we entered middle school starting this year online
010was very hard and some of us are still online learning but nonetheless we didn't give up and persevered although we lost the opportunity to do so many things it has made us stronger stronger as individuals the most importantly stronger as a community strong enough to work together come together and grow together we may not be joined by all of our loved ones here on this day or taking pictures with everyone we wish we were but we are still promoting we are all doing this alone but at the very same time we are all doing this together we're all starting a new chapter in our lives our hard work dedication and commitment has gotten us where we are today right now we're all uncertain scared even about lies ahead but this fear this confusion will not
011stop us from being graded we will all improve one by one and gradually improve as a community so we leave here today as graduates of continental i ask you not to think of all of our frustration and confusion we had in those hallways but i ask you to think of all the smiles of all the friends we made smiles we shared and laughs we had we need to focus on all of the good things on all the awards we want in games we want as teams we are all a collection of the people we meet and experiences we've had even if it was just a tiny little bit we'll have shaped each other into who we are right now we may never speak to each other again in high school but the memories we made
012together here we must never forget because we are all a part of each other now this promotion is defined in so many ways one of the ways being our courage to take the next step into the next chapter of our lives opening up the chapter of new friends new possibilities and the beginning of a brand new us whatever this promotion may mean to you i believe in us because we will we will not go unnoticed now i must hold our heads up high as we prepare for next year and do it we never thought we could now we must go celebrate with our classmates our achievements and what we've made possible for ourselves and use it to the fullest because the sky is the limit for us and will be great greater than we could
013ever dream of today thank you um okay so that's which boys good morning parents do not touch it i would like to thank the parents full administration and board members for coming to celebrate the class of 2025 8th grade promotion it is an honor to be here talking on behalf of my fellow classmates we have finally accomplished one of our many milestones in life i think i can speak for all my peers when i say i am excited nervous and relieved to be going into high school this is one of our last hurrahs until we all split ways for summer and possibly different high schools i thank continental for helping me meet some of my great friends and my favorite teachers i am very thankful for being able to be the builder's club treasurer and
014for all that ms freeland and miss fanning did to make sure that builders club was always successful thank you to the teachers for making my journey fun and interesting and thank you to continental for the many years of memories we are part of the group that as kindergarteners attended continental in the old buildings before they were knocked down and turned into a bigger and better school even though i've had a withdrawal from continental a couple of times due to my dad's job i always knew in my heart i would come back and be a continental coal although the pandemic made seventh and eighth grade challenging and interesting we were able to persevere i am so incredibly thankful to continental for being the only school open all year and giving students a chance to learn in
015person and have a somewhat normal year despite our sports being cut short due to the pandemic we look forward to playing sports in high school moving on to middle school one of the things we had to look forward to was changing classes having lockers and our eighth grade trip we had to adjust but did so with our heads held high after a pandemic struck i was still able to participate in the science fair nature walks and soccer tournaments which i'm very thankful for we have not been able to hang out with friends as normal but we are able to keep in touch through social media our eighth grade trip served as a bookend for our middle school chapter we may not have been able to go to washington d.c but miss christie and her wonderful
016volunteers made it possible for us to still have a civics trip to phoenix i appreciate the school administration because they made sure that we didn't miss out on too much our school journey would not have been possible if it wasn't for our parents teachers and our community i especially enjoyed having my nina as my superintendent i want to thank my parents for everything they have done for me over the years i would also like to thank them for all the sacrifices they have made for me and my brother a big thanks to my teachers for always being there and helping me be successful i look forward to seeing what the future holds for us and one more thing i want to thank coach williams for not retiring last year thank you good morning i'm jesse
017manuta and i'm rogelio we would now like to introduce a musical musical performance by bella cereal and wyatt zeller they will be performing pieces of eight on the violin and the cello [Applause] so easy this is oh [Music] so [Music] [Applause] um [Music] and now for our final two speakers i'm early and salvador nieves good morning students teachers administrators the school board family and friends my name is ivy sweely and i'm honored to welcome you to the class of 2025 april promotion it feels like we've been waiting all year for this day to come just wanting to move on to the next part of our lives and begin high school but now that it is here it's hard to believe that we'll have to say goodbye to our amazing teachers and some friends that we've
018made during our time at continental school for the last 16 years between my cousin's sister and me there been this ruling student enrolled at continental school as the last one it makes me a little sad that our tradition will soon be ending in the nine years i've been a student at continental not only did i make memories with my friends but continental was a place to make memories with my sister and cousins too in kindergarten i remember meeting so many new people who are still my friends to this day mrs romanelli painted our entire classroom with animals and plants before we moved to the new building then came first grade when a group of taiwanese students came to our school for chinese new year and we got to learn all about their culture in second
019grade we got pranked by our teachers we spent what felt like an eternity on the baseball field searching for non-existent easter eggs until they yelled april fools but they're not happy to say the least in fourth grade i remember when mrs soto left a new movie that had come out and we spent every day singing and dancing to the soundtrack of la la land middle school was a big change but i quickly got used to it and left how we had our own lockers and different teachers each period i always looked forward to mr davis class and couldn't wait to see what jokey would tell us that day mr krauser found interesting ways to teach us about science like having us write a rap song about the cell cycle or racing around the classroom and
020his little scooter to learn about velocity because of covid this school year was one like we've never seen before although we couldn't see anyone outside of our cohort it did not stop ap from having fun moments like accidentally hitting mrs dubois with the snowball the day at snowed at school or the purple team winning the basketball championship in miss williams class are memories i don't want to forget days that we got to watch movies with mrs freeland or play bunker with mrs fanning were always good times and even better was getting to learn outside of our classroom on the civics club trip with my best friends my teachers this year deserve a big thank you from me and the rest of the 8th grade class thank you to all of my teachers that worked so
021hard for us to continue learning and improving even when we couldn't be at school thank you mrs du bois for preparing me for high school and my future it's obvious how much you care about all of your students and thank you mrs freeland for being someone i could always talk to count on and laugh with for the past three years our teachers are not the only people we need to thank for getting us where we are today mom and dad i'm so appreciative for your love and supportiveness my whole life you taught me to work hard to my best ability and never give up thank you to my grandparents for coming to every concert or award ceremony even if i was only on stage for two minutes you never failed to cheer me on i'm
022so lucky and grateful to have all of you in my life as we leave our school and go on to the next stages of our lives i can confidently say that our teachers have prepared us and given us the tools to succeed thank you again to our families friends and staff at continental school that joined us today on this special occasion congratulations class of 2025. thank you good morning ladies and gentlemen i'd like to start off with thank you for being in attendance for my graduating classes promotion i'd also like to thank the board and parents for helping us get through this tough year i'm grateful for being able to speak on behalf of my class i would like to start off by congratulating my fellow classmates for doing hard work to pass their classes
023and get through the school year with pandemic it was an odd year starting online but i'm proud of all of us for sticking through it and while still taking charge in our education i'd also like to thank the teachers for helping us get through the pandemic if you guys did not take the reins i don't know what my eighth looked grader i want to thank you for giving my class a semi-normal final eighth grade year i would finally like to say i'm very thankful for being able to attend continental i wish my fellow classmates look at the hospital they choose to attend and it will success in their academic and sports careers thank you i would like to welcome mr ken kratzer presenting the case so so today we're under the memory of uh kate
024seville who was uh taken from us back in 2007 in a tragic car crash it was actually my privilege to re-uh replace her here at this school and as we enter her memory i'd like to recognize two outstanding science students i had a number of students that i could have recognized and many students came to mind as i was trying to decide who to honor but i finally settled on two students normally we just recognize one but we have two students who partner together this year to accomplish something that no students have ever done in our history here which is to win a recognition at the state science fair and we had two students who did a pretty intense study on rgb led lighting and its effect on mood and they designed a little apparatus
025which would produce a moonlight for people to help put them in a better a better spirit and they they work to identify some of the color combinations that would produce and enhance some of the the better moods in people and so at this time i'd like to honor grace matthews and robert brubreaker uh [Applause] oh the next speaker i'd like to welcome is miss sue williams presenting the athletes can you hear me back there yeah okay um i'm gonna switch it up just a little bit i would like i'm gonna announce the the two names first so that their family and friends can concentrate on my remarks because these are two phenomenal kids not just in the athletic realm but just overall as well so carolina navarro and jason wilkerson please join me up here
026like i said they're two very remarkable individuals um they they are two of the best athletes that i've ever worked with over 25 years of teaching and coaching and um and part of the reason is because we both are always we're always willing to work toward a skill improvement and always trying to develop a deeper understanding of game performance and strategy the biggest thing though really is they are absolutely selfless when they're in playing mode if we're doing a team sport they're looking to bring up all the athletes on their team whether it was in pe class or out um in uh more of an after-school sport and that's the thing that makes them truly remarkable they're very very selfless in their plane and they'll go very far in life in general with that with
027that mindset it's been a pleasure each and every day that you came into my classroom thank you very very much [Applause] somebody [Applause] maybe the next speaker i would like to welcome is miss gina freeland presenting the desean good morning it is my pleasure to present this award desean glover was a student at continental and between his second and third grade in the summer he had a tragic accident that ended his life he was a very sweet and kind young man in honor of him his family has established this friendship award the glover families go way back when my kids went to continental so they're a very special family to me as well this award the teachers pick and we pick two students that exemplify kindness and friendship within the eighth grade seventh grade sixth
028grade years if they're here those years the two recipients this year are just outstanding young people i just have such admiration for both of them so the first one is really kind of fun because her mom was in my first class our second class at continental school when i started teaching in 1998 here and that is jennifer nunez our second winner started with us last year in seventh grade and i had the honor and privilege not only having him in social studies but in my spanish elective all year as a new student coming in he just meshed well with kids he was always respectful to everyone respectful to his teachers kind always willing to be helpful and that is eli white [Applause] so [Applause] the next speakers i'd like to welcome is miss fran king
029and mr mark heltonis presenting the kiwanis club hi my name is mark heltonis with the green valley kiwanis club and we sponsor a service club here at continental school called the builders club and we would like to especially thank wendy fanning um and we'd like to honor two of our builders club members riley amaris and [Applause] congratulations [Applause] the next speaker i'd like to welcome up is mrs roxanna rico presenting the high expectations okay this high expectation scholarship program is one of the amazing scholarships that we offer to post secondary ed for students um for tuition for funding once they start college so this award we at continental school district believe the pursuit of knowledge is a lifelong endeavor we believe education is an extremely important and necessary aspect of life helping individuals develop an
030awareness and better understanding of themselves others and their global environment we believe education plays a vital role helping prepare individuals to function more effectively in increasingly complex world and this scholarship is provided by our governing board on behalf of the superintendent and it goes to jordan wong [Applause] here it comes let's give it up for [Applause] jordan it requires parent and student signature so afterwards parents if you could please come see me so we can get the signatures and be ready for high school and college [Applause] the next speaker i'd like to welcome up is mr joe ferguson presenting the continental teacher's [Applause] award um my apologies i was not paying attention in the meeting so um it is my pleasure to um to speak today for the continental teachers award the continental teachers award
031is is offered to students who up to two students each each year who are just just genuine genuinely great all around these are leaders in the classroom they meet they meet expectations they exceed expectations they make good decisions um they make the lives of their their classmates and and teachers and just other individuals around them just generally better because uh because of the the presence and the space that they occupy in the room that they're in and this this year being a particularly uh difficult year for everybody involved with uh with the dramatic changes that we've had to education these these two students adjusted adjusted quickly and and continued their the good habits that they've developed over their lifetime um habits uh that that that lead to strong leadership and and um and and really
032just doing the right thing all um all the time and i can i can honestly say that when it when it comes to finding trusted trusted students in the classroom these are these are two individuals that i would never hesitate to um to lean on when when i needed to so this year's this year's continental teachers award goes to aleshka gamez and jason wilkerson congratulations [Applause] uh the next few speakers i would like to call up is miss tanya matthews and miss deanna cuevas presenting the parent teacher club awards [Applause] hello every year the continental parent teacher club sponsors three awards uh for the eighth graders the first one i'd like to hand out is outstanding cult this award is given to a student that exemplifies what a cult means not only on campus but
033off as well this year's recipient is white zeller the next award is greatest achievement k-8 this award is given to a student that has been at continental since kindergarten and has shown great achievements basically every year this year i'd like to hand this award to isabella and the last award is for highest gpa this award pretty much speaks for itself so congratulations jason wilkerson our next speaker is miss diana presenting the principles award [Applause] this principles award is going to be awarded to a student of the year who is extremely responsible extremely kind in all areas around our campus to all students not just middle school students we've seen this student just be kind to all of the student body the younger kids giving them advice through the hallways giving tours to our governing board
034members being extremely respectful and responsible and a true leader of our school we would like to award this to ivy [Applause] cerulean [Applause] the next few speakers i would like to welcome up are mr kevin welsh and mr steve latham presenting the optimist award thank you very much uh it's our honor each year to present to a student the optimist club award and uh this award is for improvement uh it's uh it's for a student that displays optimism and uh also the motivation to do better and somebody has turned it around uh pessimism of course promotes fear and you can't move frozen in place and you don't ever get any better optimism uh is the obviously the opposite of that and it promotes growth and everybody does not our club has been here for 33
035years in green valley and we're here to support the kids mr latham is going to talk about the recipient and the blocky earnest awards so as kevin mentioned optimist club is really a group of individuals that comes together that tries to do good in the community and so when the teachers and i sat together coming up with some of these awards this student is one that didn't qualify for all the others but definitely definitely has turned their career around here at continental school from the first day that they entered until the day that they leave today from being in the office and visiting me on a regular basis to not see me this year at all instead of rushing by in the hallway um and so that's really what it is is trying to better
036yourself and recognizing that and day one of this school year this individual walked up with me in the eyes and said i am never coming to your office and i am it is my honor to recognize jayden reichel [Applause] [Music] the next few speakers i would like to welcome up is mrs bonnie clark and mrs julie cirolli good morning i'm bonnie clare i'm the president of the continental school district educational foundation and i'm julie cerulean the vice president for the foundation we are here to present three awards the continental school district educational foundation started presenting more awards several years ago and i'd like to read the criteria for each of these awards the first one is the outstanding student achievement the minimum of a 3.0 gpa involved in extracurricular activities that he or she will
037continue in high school and these awards are decided by this and so we do not have anything to do with this we give them the criteria and then they uh tell us who the award winners are right so the first award for academic achievement goes to jordan wong this second one is the outstanding service award and this is uh the criteria for this is to be involved in community service involved in extracurricular activities that he or she will continue in high school so the outstanding service award goes to logan does camps [Applause] and then the last one is the inspiration award and the teachers choose a student that has been inspiring to the staff the students and everyone else there really is no criteria it's up to them to decide who is most inspiring this
038award goes to emma barker [Applause] the next speaker i'd like to welcome is mr joe ferguson presenting the mason taylor musical so the mason mason taylor musician of the year award is sponsored by the foundation um and it it it was a ward that was um that's that's that's been in place for i believe about three years at this point and it's it's in honor of mason taylor who was who was an outstanding exceptional continental student specifically in in the music department um he he expressed a joy and love of music and a joy of love and love um of learning music in a way that was was not necessarily present in in other subject areas for him he used to hide in my classroom on his way to lunch and wait for me to
039find him and yell at him and tell him to leave but mason much like this year's this year's recipient showed showed an intrinsic motivation to continually better himself in in in his musical musical world this year's recipient in light of um in in light of the the the current situation and the fact that we we did not have ensembles this year this this year's uh this year's recipient um made uh made an extraordinary extraordinary effort outside of school to better himself as a musician and an individual and though though he was rather quiet in class and did not take up much space in class he found me a lot outside of class and asked me questions outside of class much in the way that mason taylor did when when he was a seventh in their
040sixth seventh and eighth grader at our school i will i will miss this student but i know he will go on to great things in his musical career congratulations shane trujillo mrs [Applause] the next few speakers i would like to welcome is this is diana cuevas and mrs roxanna rico presenting the excellence in social studies award so we have a lot of awards here six actually that we're gonna zip right through we appreciate it we know it's getting a little bit warm but we're almost done okay first excellence in social studies goes to mr sal nemes excellence in citizenship aubry hichner [Music] excellence in math excellence in writing mercedes morehead [Music] mercedes excellence and perseverance aiden aragones and last but not least excellence in digital learning rana stole and i just want to mention our
041community involvement with these scholarships being sponsored um typically the elks would sponsor and this year i just had to make two phone calls and these scholarships were sponsored by aauw alliance for action group and just thank you boys and girls you're amazing and congratulations and there's a little bit of cash in there so enjoy let's give cell a great big round of applause and now we are ready to introduce and promote the class of 2021. so if we can have our 8th grade teachers and president mr mcgibbon join us thank you okay so we do ask if you would please hold your applause to the end and we could applaud everybody so 8a please rise diego aguirre aiden aragones give me ben behar [Music] hannah bell oscar vajquez rogelio campus awesome [Applause] [Music] delgado sarah
042devine david diaz [Music] mommy [Music] travis garcia jennifer gonzalez jaden halbert olivia jacobson [Music] madison lendman lopez yes rebecca masterson grace matthews salvador eastside neves jennifer nunez anita ramos [Music] abigail reyes asap georgia smith [Applause] shane trujillo velasquez tiffany wright 8b please rise hassan abuser riley amarillas ivy ceruli bella syria logan discounts aubrey fitchner ammon chrysler levi moeller [Music] arabella myers eli white jason wilkerson [Applause] wyatt please stand okay vanessa acosta rodriguez lexi arredondo emma barker [Applause] alexander belial [Music] [Applause] robert brubacher sofia manhattan martinez jr briana moreno grana store and now jordan wow so before i present the promoting class of 2021 and we receive special instruction announcements from amy kreiser we have another presentation from bonnie clark and julie cerulli