Wash High celebrates 150th graduating class
In addition to lauding 90 graduating seniors, Washington School District has another reason to celebrate the end of the school year.
Washington High School’s 150th graduating class will be honored at 6:30 p.m. June 8 during commencement exercises.
The school’s first graduation was held in May 1867, with five girls making up the initial class, according to “Washington County: The Second One Hundred Years,” a collection from the Washington County Historical Publication Committee.
They were graduates of Union School, which was built in 1855 at the corner of East Beau and North Lincoln streets, according to “Focus on Washington County,” a reprint of historic articles that appeared in the Observer-Reporter. The building was destroyed by fire Feb. 12, 1899, and students were moved to the West Side School on West Beau Street.
As the community grew, the structure could no longer accommodate the student population. On Feb. 1, 1932, students and staff moved into the current Washington Junior-Senior High School, on the site of the family home of J. Earnest Miller, chief designer of Duncan and Miller Glass Co.
The commencement guest speaker will be a member of Wash High’s 100th graduating class, M. Belinda Tucker. Tucker, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences in the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., was born and raised in Washington, attended First Ward Elementary School and graduated with high honors from Washington High School.
“We (will) recognize the 150th celebration in our graduation program. We believe our plans are the most practical way to celebrate Wash High’s 150th graduation class while maintaining the emphasis on our 2017 graduates, since this is their first and only high school graduation,” said Superintendent Dr. Roberta DiLorenzo. “It will also add more meaning to our graduates’ Inspiration Walk in Washington Park Elementary School.”
For the second year, seniors walked the hallways of Washington Park Elementary Thursday in their Prexie blue and black, encouraging their younger counterparts to stay in school.
Teacher and senior class organizer Kelly Ryburn said the practice inspires the seniors in equal measure.
To include the community in festivities, the school will host a celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the high school, with food, prizes, music and games.
The event is free for the community, and all current and past students, staff and school board members are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to check in with their name and graduation year to receive a small gift.
“We’ve celebrated (the 150th anniversary) all year,” said Ryburn. “It kind of made everything a little bigger and better for that reason.”