Members of the Shelton Class of 2022 have received 258 acceptances to 109 colleges and $5,684,176 in merit scholarships. Among the class are 27 National Honor Society Members, four athletes who signed to play four college sports, one student who earned a perfect ACT score on the reading and science sections, one National Merit Commended Scholar and one SMU Hunt Leadership Scholar. The seniors have contributed 1879.25 hours in community service.
Valedictorian Mackenzie Dupré, who will attend Trinity University, spoke about how grateful she is to have been a part of a community where she and others belonged and felt loved for who they are. “Shelton challenges us to create our own way of solving problems and apply that to our occupation as students," she said. "We grew up to be incredibly resilient and courageous students with an open minded, outside-the-box mentality, due to being accustomed to working harder than the average student to succeed, and those strengths will serve us well in life.”
Class of 2022 Salutatorian Ava Aidala, who will attend the University of Texas at Austin and major in Sustainability Studies, said in the graduation program that Shelton equipped her with the tools she needs to be successful and taught her how to seek out the support necessary to achieve her goals.
Graduation speaker Eric McGehearty, who is a Shelton alumnus and parent, spoke about giving ourselves permission to fail and the value of experiencing failure on his path to creating a successful digital marketing business, Globe Runner. “What defines us is how we react to adversity, how we get up and move forward in a challenging time,” he said. “It is okay to reach out for help. What defines us is that we gave it our all. We got back up in difficult times, and we worked hard to pursue excellence and make it a habit in our lives."
Executive Director Suzanne Stell congratulated the class on their resilience. “You’ve persevered, you’ve learned to adjust to the unexpected, and you have begun to identify what is important to you, what you want to accomplish, and what to do to make it happen,” she said. “Class of 2022, you are creating an amazing future! We have been, and will be, so proud of your courage, your initiative and your accomplishments.”
Watch a slideshow of the 2022 Shelton graduation at the link here.
Watch a video of the 2022 Shelton graduation at the link here.