La Plata High School seniors celebrated their commencement ceremony on Monday, June 6th. The service was held at the Show Place Arena for 324 graduates. The first commence ceremony was held eighty-three years ago with a graduating class of fifteen students.
The 2011 La Plata High School graduates were offered over five million dollars in scholarship money. Valedictorian Colin Qualters was offered almost $244,000 in scholarships and grant money. Salutatorian Katherine Huber was offered a whopping $440,000 in scholarships and grant money.
With so many offers to consider, Qualters decided to attend the University of Maryland at College Park and Huber will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Excitement filled the graduation ceremony as the band and choir entertained the audience. The faculty and administration congratulated the graduates by reminding them, “The significance of your graduation from La Plata is not that you are one of many, but that you, yourself have achieved a worthy goal. These commencement ceremonies are a public recognition of that accomplishment and demonstrate the school’s pride in your achievement.”
Delegate Sally Jameson, the Charles County Commissioners, Sheriff Rex Coffey and Board of Education officials were all on hand to congratulate the graduates as they received their diplomas.
Graduate Brittany Coggins said, “The ceremony was so exciting, the most exciting part was when they called my name and I walked across the stage.” Coggins is on her way to Howard University to study pre med. She has plans to become a family physician. Coggins applied to Spelman College and Howard University, “I wanted to attend a historically black college, my whole family attended historically black colleges. They really work with their students; you’re not just a minority. They want to make sure you succeed in your life.”
Graduate Sarah Horsewood has plans to work throughout the summer. “The ceremony was nice, it went smo
