Riverview High School graduates take the next step

Principal Erin Haughey told graduates of Riverview High School that she learned about purpose from her grandfather, a third-generation American who served in World War II.

She recounted delivering meals on wheels, serving in soup kitchens, and organizing donations to the Salvation Army, stating her grandfather would even attend funerals of strangers who had no family. 

She said from him, she learned a concept the Japanese call "ikigai."

"It's the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for, and when those four thing align, you've found your purpose," she said.

Purpose was a recurring theme during the ceremony, which involved some 470 graduates taking the stage at Robarts Arena, the night of May 30. 

Conor Fitzgibbons, a National Merit finalist scholar, will be studying finance, a subject he said he had been "super interested" in for the past few years, at the University of Florida.

"I'm relieved, I'm excited, and I'm anxious for the future," he said. "It's crazy that it's gone already. It felt like it went so fast, especially those last few years, but really going into my future, going to college, I'm super excited."

During a speech, graduate Lauren Haggard encouraged graduates to embrace their own unique paths.

She said she had spent most of her time in the school's arts department, stating that it is "way more fun to get your color everywhere and be judged, than to pretend like you have no color at all, and be met with silence."

"As you continue to live, create, and learn, you will use the wrong brush again," she said. "You will use the wrong color. You may have to paint over the canvas and start over. But what a blessing it is to have brushes to choose from, colors to paint with, and the opportunity to reset, try again, and use what you've learned."