Multiple graduation ceremonies are on the schedule this week in Escalon.
Wednesday, June 1 will be the first, with both eighth grade and senior class students graduating from Gateway Academy Charter School in a 10 a.m. ceremony.
That event will take place in the Escalon High School Performing Arts Center, with eighth graders graduating first, followed by their senior counterparts.
Wednesday evening, the graduates of Vista High will take the stage in the Performing Arts Center, with that ceremony scheduled for 6 p.m.
On Thursday, June 2 at 7 p.m., eighth grade students at El Portal, the Panthers, will assemble on the high school football field for their graduation, as they prepare to enter Escalon High next year as freshmen.
Finally, on Friday night, June 3, the Class of 2022 from Escalon High School will be in the spotlight, receiving their diplomas in a 7 p.m. ceremony on the football field in Memorial Stadium.
Top two graduates for the class are Valedictorian Amanda ‘Mandy’ Murphy and Salutatorian Emily Middleton. Murphy will provide an address at the graduation and both are excited for the graduation and look eagerly toward the future beyond high school.
“I just always followed my mom’s rules,” Murphy said of her recipe for success at EHS, working to keep up her grades and take classes that would prepare her for college and career.
She is headed to USC and will study Journalism, deciding on the Southern California school after a visit earlier this spring.
“Right now I think I want to go into sports broadcasting, maybe work for ESPN one day,” Murphy said. “I also want to keep up a certain GPA in college.”
For that reason, the standout volleyball player – a two-time Section champion – has decided not to play collegiately but instead will focus on her education.
“My best memory here, winning Sections for the first time my sophomore year,” Murphy said.
She added that she is grateful for the support and guidance of her family and believes she has a solid foundation from which to work from at the next level.
Emily Middleton said she didn’t start out high school with the goal of being in the top two in her graduating class.
“I always felt like school work was pretty natural for me,” she admitted. “I always did all my work in class, all my homework.”
Both also noted that the distance learning brought about during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a staggered return to school, at first just a couple of days a week, actually helped them focus more on studies.
“It gave me more time to put care and thought into my work,” Murphy said of not being distracted by on campus events or social activities. “I had so much free time after school, that was good for my AP classes and for me it was a much better schedule.”
Middleton agreed, noting that “overall it was an easier schedule” when they weren’t on campus five days a week and she feels it provided a good transition from high school to college.
Middleton’s favorite classes at EHS were AP Literature and AP Language Arts.
“Those inspired me, I want to be an English teacher,” she said.
She will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to continue her studies.
“It’s really scary,” she admitted of leaving home. “I think I’m just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
Both Murphy and Middleton also plan to stay in close contact with family as they move on to college. First, however, they are looking forward to walking in to Engel Field with the rest of the senior class on Friday and spend a final night as Cougars before beginning the next chapter.
