Hoover High launches nearly 700 Class of 2017 graduates into 'big, cruel, real world'

Hoover High School ushered about 700 seniors in the Class of 2017 into what Principal Don Hulin called the “big, cruel, real world out there” during a graduation ceremony at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Bartow Arena Wednesday night.

But the largest graduating class in the state of Alabama is prepared for the challenges ahead, Hulin told the thousands of camera-toting parents, relatives and friends.

“As the world changes and continues to grow, so has our school community,” Hulin said. “Yet we have remained fully committed to the academic and character growth of each individual student. We ask our students to think, take responsibility, to connect and reach for success.”

Graduating from the “largest and most diverse high school” in Alabama has tremendous benefits, Hulin said.

“Our students celebrate and look for diversity of thought, of color and talents, and due to the support within our community, our system and our school, we’re able to offer an incredible array of opportunities,” Hulin said.

That comes in the form of technology, outstanding facilities and strong teacher expertise, he said.

“The Class of 2017 has positioned themselves to take advantage of those opportunities and build upon them as they reach their individual goals and their vision for their future,” he said.

This group of students has documented thousands of community service hours and now is heading to 213 college and universities all across the country, from Pennsylvania to California and Hawaii, Hulin said. Some even plan to continue their education abroad at the American University in Rome and American University in Paris, he said.

Ninety-seven percent of the seniors in the Hoover High Class of 2017 completed their graduation requirements, and 43 percent of them received scholarship offers totaling more than $37 million, school officials said. They accepted $15.7 million of those scholarships, officials said.

A record 16 Hoover High students are entering the military. Hulin, a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force and commissioned officer in the Louisiana Air National Guard, applauded their patriotism and love for the United States.

More than 80 seniors maintained a 4.0 GPA or higher throughout their high school careers, and five (Jacob McDowell, Mariam Massoud, Nathan Ng, Aneesh Pathak and Wiejia Amy Zhang) were named National Merit Scholars.

This class’ academic teams have won local, state and national championships, and the arts programs have produced incredible talent and won championships as well, he said. This year, Hoover High athletic teams brought back seven state championships, he said.

He thanked the Class of 2017 for making Hoover High a better place and him a better person.

Senior Class President Annie Medders said that, over the past 13 years, she and her classmates matured from small elementary school kids with tight Aeropostale T-shirts to brace-faced middle school students obsessed with Miss Me jeans and Ugg footwear.

When they reached high school, they found more freedom, better lunch choices, more class choices and the honor of climbing three flights of stairs, she said.

They learned how to become better friends, learned which study strategies helped them learn best and how to hit puberty and “glow up,” she said.

“Do not let your talent stop here,” Medders said. “ Continue to be the best version of you.”

Hoover had 17 valedictorians this year: Derek Cebrian, Erik Cebrian, Hannah Farnlacher, Katherine Free, Amelia Grace Hill, Kasia Hunter, Anna Claire Johnson, Ashley Lawson, Jason Lee, Yishu Liu, Mariam Massoud, Davis Nersesian, Nathan Ng, Mit Patel, Aneesh Pathak and Britney Waldrop. Three of them spoke at the graduation ceremony.

Waldrop said they have been the class of questions. When they were little, people asked them what they wanted to do when they grow up. They had dreams of being everything from firefighters to forensic scientists, she said.

“We envisioned it all. Our dreams were like clouds we wanted to jump on. They were like planets we wished to visit,” she said. “They were like stars in the sky that we wished upon.”

As they got older, some of their dreams got weighed down with the reality of GPAs, and ACT scores, as if numbers defined them, she said.

“We learned that science says you can’t walk on clouds, Pluto was never a planet, and the stars we were wishing on in the sky probably died millions of years ago,” she said.

She encouraged her classmates that if they had forgotten some of their dreams along the way, to remember them and to keep dreaming.

“We learned that dreams only meet reality in the present, not in the future,” she said.

Every late night studying, every ACT tutor, every long sports practice and rehearsal led them to where they are today.

“Reality tried to tell us that we couldn’t, but we have proved that we always could,” she said.

Ng, another valedictorian, noted the people who have helped him along his journey, saying it really does take a village to raise a child.

The Boy Scouts helped teach him that you can only hike as fast as the slowest hiker in your group, he said. You can try to do things on your own, but by working as a team and supporting others, people can accomplish so much more together, he said.

His teachers and coaches taught him how to be passionate and to share that passion with others, he said. His teachers helped him discover a love for learning and solving problems, and his tennis coaches taught him how to focus on and off the court despite the failures or successes of the past, he said.

Ng also thanked his parents for being positive role models and showing him how to pursue his dreams. His parents moved to America more than 30 years ago without any family or support system, he said.

His mother started a business in their garage and through blood, sweat and tears, turned it into a thriving business that ships products all over the globe, he said. She stayed up late at night making phone calls to business associates on the other side of the world but still managed to make him breakfast in the mornings, he said.

His father, a successful software engineer, coached his teams, went camping with him and never missed his tennis matches. They showed him unconditional love but also how to achieve his dreams if he perseveres and works to overcome challenges, he said.

Ng challenged his classmates to step up into leadership roles and to become the teachers, coaches and role models for the next generation.

Zhang said graduation day couldn’t get here fast enough, but it also came too quickly. As she entered her freshman year, she hoped Hoover High School would be just like life in the “High School Musical” movie, but it turned out even better, she said.

This senior class made it through the “snowpocalypse” ice and snow storm that left students stranded at school overnight in January 2014, sprinklers coming on at homecoming, wifi problems at school and Hulin yelling at them every single day about how bad they park, she said.

They won championships in football, debate and band, gossiped about teachers they love and love to hate, and shared endless selfies and Snapchats, she said. She knows that in 20 years, when she is sitting in her penthouse on Park Avenue, sipping green tea and reading the New York Times, she’ll be reading about some of the great successes of her classmates, she said.

Some of them might feel a little fear about the future, but there’s no need to be scared, Zhang said. “The rest of our lives will be amazing and filled with adventure.”

This article was updated at 1:11 p.m. on May 25 to correct the name of one of the valedictorians to Ashley Lawson.