Columbia schools send off seniors

Shawn Sahota was class president at Rock Bridge High School all four years and student council president his senior year. As he stood before his fellow graduates, he reminded them of the things they would miss such as homecoming and games with cross-town rival Hickman High School.

Rock Bridge and Hickman both celebrated commencement on Saturday in separate ceremonies at the Hearnes Center — just a stone’s throw from the MU football stadium where their two high schools’ football teams played last year.

Rock Bridge Assistant Principal, Kathy Ritter, said the graduating class of 440 seniors was the largest in the school’s history. Family and friends filled the arena almost to the upper deck.

A few hours earlier, almost 600 Hickman graduates filed in to hollers and applause of thousands of well-wishers before hearing from Principal Wanda Brown along with Class President Lucas Blount and the other two senior speakers, James Fitzmaurice and Jordan Parshall.

“Remember the glory days of high school … and remember the glory days yet to come,” Parshall said.

Four Hickman valedictorians — Vellore Arthi, Dong-Jae Chung, Brianne Gallagher and Suzanne Wetz — were awarded plaques and medals for maintaining a 4.0 grade point average during their four years in high school. Their counterparts at Rock Bridge were Kara Hickey, Kyle Kinderknecht and Dan Rader.

The graduates later had the opportunity to spend all night at the Hearnes for the traditional Senior All Night Party, scheduled from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., which features activities such as a casino, 3-on-3 tournaments, a hair salon and live music.