Kudos to the Class of 2021
Approximately 5,000 students across Lee County will mark the culmination of their high school careers starting tonight.
Graduation ceremonies are a milestone occasion and, as we do every year, we add our congratulations to the abundance of felicitations that rightfully should come their way.
As no doubt they will hear from a plethora of commencement speakers, graduation marks not only a culmination of effort, but a fresh beginning, a blank page upon which they can write their own futures.
Graduation also marks an official end to childhood and a jumpstart into adulthood, ready or not.
It is here that we typically offer some sage advice: Don’t expect points for effort anymore; accept that, political pandering to the contrary, nobody owes you anything, and be prepared to deal with the hard, cold fact that life is often neither fair nor easy.
But we suspect that the Class of 2021 — entering school in the Great Recession and finishing during the worst worldwide pandemic since the flu of 1918 — is well aware of life’s harsh realities.
So instead of a traditional get-ready-to-grow-up mantra, we will recognize that there are many in this year’s graduating class, both here in Lee County and across the state of Florida, who are, indeed, already adults, young adults who want to change the world.
God bless them.
May they ever be as excited to carry the baton as they are anxious to receive it.
Graduations begin tonight with graduates of the city of Cape Coral’s charter high school.
Oasis High School will hold its Class of 2021 graduation on Friday, June 4, from 7-9 p.m. at FGCU’s Alico Arena in Fort Myers. Doors open at 6 p.m.
The School District of Lee County will hold graduations on June 5 and 6 this year:
• Buckingham Exceptional Center
Auditorium – 3291 Buckingham Road, Fort Myers
Buckingham Exceptional Center
Sunday, June 6, 1 p.m.
• Caloosa Sound Convention Center and Amphitheater
1375 Monroe St., Fort Myers
– Lee Virtual School – Saturday, June 5, 10 a.m.
– Adult Education – Saturday, June 5, 2:30 p.m.
• Alico Arena at FGCU
12181 FGCU Lake Parkway E, Fort Myers
– Ida S. Baker High School – Saturday, June 5, 10 a.m.
– Island Coast High School – Saturday, June 5, 2:30 p.m.
– East Lee County High School – Saturday, June 5, 7 p.m.
– South Fort Myers High School – Sunday, June 6, 2:30 p.m.
– Cypress Lake High School – Sunday, June 6, 7 p.m.
• Suncoast Arena at FSW
13351 FSW Parkway, Fort Myers
– Bonita Springs High School – Saturday, June 5, 10 a.m.
– Estero High School – Saturday, June 5, 2:30 p.m.
– Cape Coral High School – Saturday, June 5, 7 p.m.
– Mariner High School – Sunday, June 6, 2:30 p.m.
• Hertz Arena
11000 Everblades Parkway, Estero
– Fort Myers High School – Saturday, June 5, 10 a.m.
– Riverdale High School – Saturday, June 5, 2:30 p.m.
– North Fort Myers High School – Saturday, June 5, 7 p.m.
– Lehigh Senior High School – Sunday, June 6, 2:30 p.m.
– Dunbar High School – Sunday, June 6, 7 p.m.
The school district will stream all graduation ceremonies online. The links are available through the district website at Leeschools.net/calendars/high_school_graduation
Again, our very best wishes to the Class of 2021. Chase your dreams and wrest them to your will. The future is truly yours.
— Breeze editorial