Raton High School Graduation June 3, 2022

By Marty Mayfield

KRTN Multi-Media

The forecast was for rain and rain did not disappoint unless you were a Raton High School senior hoping for an outdoor graduation ceremony Friday June 3, 2022. The decision was made early in the week to move the ceremony from Tiger Stadium to Tiger Gym as the forecast called for rain Friday evening which did come just before the ceremony began at 5:00 p.m.

Tiger Gym was filled with family and friends as several hundred people gathered for the evening ceremony. Very few seats were open and many people chose to stand to watch the seniors as they crossed the stage. 53 students made the walk across the stage as Billy Donati had the honor of presenting the seniors to the crowd.

Kira Medina gave the Welcome Speech where she welcomed family and friends to Tiger Gym and asked how she was to welcome her fellow classmates when they were so close to saying goodbye? She went to say that welcoming fellow students is the beginning of the end for them at Raton High School.

Taylor Aragon gave her Valedictorian speech indicating that as she has done so many times she waited till the last minute to do her speech, it was due three days ago. She also thanked many of the people who had helped not only her but the whole class. She went on to talk about some of the many memories that high school offered up to the class. She finished with congratulations to the class of 2022.

Class Salutatorian Riley Hopper gave the farewell speech beginning with congratulations to the class and noting the last four years has been a roller coaster to say the least. She too talked about the memories created over the last four years.

The class ended the ceremony hoping to dance to the class song “Five More Minutes” by Scotty McCreery but was besieged by technical difficulties and simply ended the ceremony in the middle of the gym floor as family and friends began to flood the space to congratulate the seniors.