TAMPA BAY TECHNICAL HIGH
NUMBER OF GRADUATES: 408
VALEDICTORIAN: Vishnu Jayakumar (Architectural Design Academy), Sabbir Mirza (Academy of Health Professions) and Natalia Velasquez (Tampa Bay Technical)
SALUTATORIAN: Pamela Barthelemy (Architectural Design Academy), Thao Nguyen (Academy of Health Professions) and Isabel Martinez (Tampa Bay Technical)
SPEAKERS: Principal Michael Ippolito, class president Whidney Desormo, Barthelemy, Nguyen, Martinez, Jayakumar, Mirza and Velasquez.
HA-HA MOMENT: Barthelemy spoke about graduation being "the ultimate day to turn up," in other words to act loose or crazy. She then joked, listing the other days the class had done so. "Grad bash: turn up. Prom: turn up."
GETTING SENTIMENTAL: Thao called Tampa Bay Tech her "second family," to which the graduates gave a universal "awww."
CLASS SONG: We Are Young, by Fun featuring Janelle Monáe
CLASS MOTTO: "Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
BEST ADVICE: "Never let your dreams fade." — Desormo
Katie Lamont, East Lake High / St. Petersburg College, tb-two* staff