The Fowler High School Class of 2016 graduates Thursday, but seniors put on their caps and gowns a day early to parade through local elementary schools. High fives and cheers could be seen and heard in the hallways of Bellevue Elementary School, with younger kids holding signs to congratulate the passing high schoolers. Graduating seniors Juliana Rodriguez and Ramel Davis say the excitement was palpable.
"It's really exciting because the kids so cute and they're really excited by us graduating, and they're supporting us," Rodriguez said. "Hopefully we encourage them to do the same in the future when they're graduating."
"It just reminds me of how it used to be, like how I was so small and now I'm here, to see this day that I'm graduating," Davis said.
In 2015, Fowler High School had a graduation rate of just 34 percent. But officials hope that having kids think about college early will help lead to higher achievement. Bellevue Elementary School Principal Sarah Capelli says the graduates set a great example for her students.
"We had our fifth grade moving-up ceremony today, so to see the expressions on the fifth graders as the graduates walked by, you could tell it really touched them," Capelli said. "After they were able to walk the stage this morning, it reassures them that they, too, will get there, they're capable of it, and they looked very, very excited."
The graduates credit their success to the many different teachers and mentors they had throughout the years. Now role models themselves, Rodriguez and Davis say it’s different being on the other side.
"I can't believe I'm graduating because I still feel like it was just a couple years ago that I started high school. Now they're telling me you have to grow up, that I'm an adult now, and that's sad," Rodriguez said, laughing.
"I can't say it feels weird," Davis said. "It's just different, because we have kids looking up to us, we're the people that they look upon now."
Rodriguez and Davis will both attend college in the future and advise younger students to never give up and to always move forward.
