Saipan Southern High School held a motorcade and a virtual graduation to commemorate the achievement of its 160 seniors, who have gone through many hurdles to get to this point. <\/p>\n
According to Vince Dela Cruz, SSHS principal, he and his staff worked tirelessly to provide some form of ceremony for this year’s graduating class because they endured so many traumatic events in the last four years that they deserve to have their successes commemorated. <\/p>\n
“These students endured Typhoon Soudelor, Super Typhoon Yutu, and now COVID-19. They went through so much and they’re here, they made it, happy, and parents are still very supportive. I want to give a huge shoutout to the parents because they endured a lot also,” he said. <\/p>\n
Although he finds it sad that his class had to go out with just a virtual ceremony, SSHS salutatorian Glen John Matalog said it\u2019s better than not having any graduation celebration at all. “It’s tragic that the Class of 2020 had to end this way but, at the end of the day, it is what it is and we have to make do with what we’ve got,” he said in his salutatory speech, adding that this only teaches that if at first you don’t get what you want out of life, you should continue to try, even if it means taking a different approach. <\/p>\n
“Sometimes no matter how hard you work toward a goal, the cards just aren’t dealt in your favor. You quickly realize that you can’t always get what you want in life and you have to change your approach, but that is what’s supposed to keep you going, so keep pushing forward until you get what you want. Just like how the saying goes, if the plan doesn’t work, change the plan but never the goal,” he said. <\/p>\n
SSHS valedictorian Iris Kim Lee, who was not present for her graduation, said in her virtual speech that, although its heartbreaking that their senior year ended unexpectedly, they still deserve to celebrate and take the next step. <\/p>\n
“Although we may not be able to experience the usual graduation that we worked hard for, don’t be discouraged or feel sad about it. The world is facing something new and we’re all adapting to the new normal which is our next challenge. Life is about moving forward and learning from experience. Take the next challenge,” she said. <\/p>\n
Awards<\/p>\n Top 10:<\/strong> \t\u2022\tIris Kim Lee: Valedictorian, Board of Education award, Governor’s Leadership Award, English Language Arts, Math, Japanese Language and Culture Saipan Southern High School held a motorcade and a virtual graduation to commemorate the achievement…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":324575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1624],"class_list":["post-324657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-sshs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIris Kim Lee,
\nGlen John Matalog
\nBernadette Jacinto
\nRio Shadow
\nYe Lee Christina Cha
\nEarl Joseph Garcia
\nRoger Keith Valencia
\nKyla Mei Tuazon
\nLovely Mae Mariano
\nJoemari Pulido<\/p>\n
\n\t\u2022\tGlenn John Matalog: Commissioner of Education award, Japanese Language and Culture,
\n\t\u2022\tRoger Keith Valencia: Principal’s List award, JROTC
\n\t\u2022\tAeyanna Maratita: English Language Arts
\n\t\u2022\tEarl Garcia: Math, Science
\n\t\u2022\tKyla Tuazon: Science
\n\t\u2022\tRio Shadow: Social Studies
\n\t\u2022\tIsabelle Evangelista: Social Studies
\n\t\u2022\tEmelsha Cepeda: CCLHS
\n\t\u2022\tYe Lee Cha: Japanese Language and Culture, Band, Cooperative Education
\n\t\u2022\tRichard Balearos: Physical Education
\n\t\u2022\tHanna Mae Quiambao: Choir
\n\t\u2022\tAkari Saito: Art
\n\t\u2022\tNatalie Bait: Cooperative Education
\n\t\u2022\tAbigail Padilla: Cooperative Education
\n\t\u2022\tJoemari Pulido: Cooperative Education
\n\t\u2022\tMark Sagun: Digital Media
\n\t\u2022\tJoshua Waldo: Digital Media
\n\t\u2022\tDerrick Atalig: Woodwork
\n\t\u2022\tDorcb Ayuyu: Woodwork
\n\t\u2022\tTheresita Borja: Woodwork
\n\t\u2022\tTrinny Igisair: Woodwork
\n\t\u2022\tJhon Raymart Reyes: Woodwork
\n\t\u2022\tSylvina Simran: Woodwork
\n\t\u2022\tRo’anna Tudela: Woodwork<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"