ROYAL CITY — One hundred eleven Knights sallied forth from the Royal High School football field Friday, June 2, ready to take on any dragons that might come their way.

“Many things make you an exceptional graduating class,” said RHS Principal Courtney McCoy in her welcoming remarks. “You are driven. You are strong. You are gregarious. You get things done. You have that we-can-do-things we-are-going-to-do-things je ne sais quoi about you … So take that magical mojo of yours and always remember the American author Glennon Doyle's mantra: ‘We can do hard things every day.’ You can do hard things. Do them: the big, the small, things for you, things for others, things for the entire world. Our world is waiting for you, Royal High School’s wildly capable Class of 2023.”

The program started with Royal’s traditional car parade. Students, their cars festooned with banners, flags and signs, drove in single file out of the intermediate school parking lot and took a victory lap through town before coming back to the school and processing onto the field to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

After the Royal High School Band played the National Anthem, the 15 students graduating with highest honors – which meant with a 3.75 or higher grade point average – were called to the front along with their parents to be recognized by Assistant Principal Randy Miller.

The class speaker was ASB President Maria Salas, who reminisced on her classmates’ school careers.

“My fellow graduates, we did it. We rock.” Salas said. “All we ever wanted to do was grow up and move on to the next big thing. We grew up together in different classrooms anxiously waiting for the bell to ring at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. We grew up reading picture books, and out of nowhere, chapter books. We wanted to grow up. We wanted to move on to the next school building. And now the next building is different for all of us.”

The guest speaker, chosen by the class, was first-year RHS history teacher Parker Griffin.

“It feels weird to be in a position of providing a speech that is supposed to be filled with wisdom and everlasting or changing advice,” Griffin said. “I was sitting in your shoes just six short years ago, wondering, what am I going to do with my life? Most of you have siblings older than me.”

Griffin went on to mention specific memories of his students: which ones had nicknames in his class, who played Wordle against him every day and which ones frequently had to be reminded to stay on task.”

“I'm gonna miss teaching you about taxes by taking 10% of all food that you brought into my classroom,” he said. “Thank you for feeding me most of the days … I was able to get to know each and every one of your unique personalities. As I look back on my first year of teaching, it becomes clear that we truly had a special connection. You never gave up on me. You never let me down, never ran around or deserted me. I hope that you continue to share that same energy to others.”

The speeches finished, RSD Superintendent Roger Trail formally presented the class to the school board, and Board President Craig Janette distributed the diplomas. Football Coach Wiley offered a closing prayer, and the Class of 2023 tossed its caps in the air and turned to face the world.

“We can do anything we set our minds to,” Salas said. ”Don't let anyone ever underestimate you. The little girl or boy in you is very proud of you right now. Keep making them happy.”

Joel Martin can be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.

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The Royal High School Class of 2023

Haley Acencio-Beltran

Miguel Alcaraz Roman

Jonathan Alegre Rodriguez

Dylan Allred*

Jorge Alonso-Avila

Araceli Analco*

Bryan Aparicio-Noriega

Edith Avina*

Yoselin Barrera Arroyo*

Daniel Calderon-Velasquez

Karla Calderon-Velasquez

Estella Camacho Candido

Elifar Campos

Ruby Cardenas-Araujo

Kathleen Carlson*

Zayra Carmona

Liberty Carrasco

Franklin Castellanos-De La Cruz

Angela Castro Felix

Brian Cedillo*

Oscar Cervantes Chavez

Andrea Cortez-Ferrer*

Melissa Coyazo Gutierrez

Luis Fernando Cruz

Edgar De La Rosa

Ivy Delay*

Alexis Diaz Lopez*

Amber Dodson

Andrea Eaton

Rayce Eilers*

Diana Gonzalez-Castaneda*

Brayan Hernandez

Georgina Hernandez*

Kaleb Hernimdez

Silverio Hernandez-Serna Jr.

Samuel Hilario-Cedillo

Kimberli Huato Barajas

Detton Jenks*

Jocelyn Jenks*

Sergio Lara-Calderon

Kate Larsen*

Addison Lawrence*

Paden Livingston*

Jason Lopez Garcia

Brandon Lopez-Serna

Guadalupe Madrigal Torres*

Abaz Marcial-Moreno

Yoselin Mejia Villalobos

Judit Mendoza

Maritza Mendoza-Villanueva*

Abraham Montoya

Enrique Montoya

Magaly Montoya

Jisael Morales

Hernandez Alondra Morales

Orlando Huerta Moreno

Sofia Moreno

Daniel Murillo-Uribe Jr.

Ericka Murrieta Rojas*

Juan Nieto-Soriano

Carter Noftle*

Yuritza Orozco Lepez

Alejandro Orozco-Ramirez

Madison Ortega-Sanchez

Destiny Padilla Santillan

Briseyda Padilla

Saul Panuco Rojas

Abdon Perez Bravo*

Esly Perez-Pacheco

Luis Perez-Serrano

Haley Piercy*

Adrien Pruneda

Mauricio Ramirez

Esteban Samantha Rincon

Perla Robles Guerrero*

Ruby Rodriguez*

Kevin Rodriguez-Delgado*

Monica Rojas*

Rene Rojas-Ponce

Alexis Romero-Orozco

Ana Ruiz-Cisneros*

Lisbeth Ruiz-Gonzalez

Maria Salas-Moreno*

Juan San German-Cerritos*

Judy Santiago-Morales

Johanna Sario-Diaz*

Andrea Saucedo*

Alan Segura

Rayne Sheriff

Isamar Sotelo*

Juan Tolentino-Alvarado

Isaac Toro

Lesly Torres-Avila*

Brittany Torres-Garfias

Jordy Trinidad

Ivan Vargas Villafana

Sandra Velasco

Hugo Verduzco

Emmanuel Villa-Rodriguez

Josielyn Villegas*

Kaiden Wilson

Katley Zuniga-Calderon*

• With honors (3.0 GPA or higher)

With high honors (3.5 GPA or higher)

* With highest honors (3.75 GPA or higher)