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Guest Commentary: Kudos to Class of 2022; your light shines bright

By Staff | May 13, 2022

Debbie Jordan

As the 2021-2022 school year comes to an end, from our newest kindergarten students to our graduating seniors, we have so many things to be thankful for. When our uninvited guest (COVID) decided to come back for a second season, everyone rallied together once more to ensure that we continued to meet the educational needs of our students. It has been a year of both challenges and opportunities for a brighter tomorrow.

With graduation ceremonies coming up this month to celebrate and highlight the Class of 2022, I am amazed by the accomplishments of this impressive group. Six of our seniors are National Merit Scholarship Program finalists. Congratulations to: Jacob Silver, Cypress Lake High School; Morgan Kaplan, Fort Myers High School; Zachary Burkett, Dunbar High School; Krisha Parikh, Fort Myers High School; David Liu, Dunbar High School, and Zoe Zheng, Fort Myers High School.

While the District was honored this year as Cambridge International’s Large District of the year, we are even more proud of AICE Program seniors Hayden Germanis of Estero High School and Mathew Powell from Lehigh Senior for their national awards. Hayden won a “Top in Country” award for the best test score nationwide in Digital Media and Design. Mathew is a “Best Across Four” award winner for attaining the highest cumulative total standard marks in the country.

The Advance Placement tests are no easy task either, and Dunbar High School senior Carson Mulvey earned a perfect score on the AP exam for Computer Science Principles. He is one of only 335 students around the world to not miss a single point, which puts him in the top 0.29% of all test takers.

And let me also recognize Lee Virtual School’s Junwei Tan, as he may improve the way students learn. He won both First Place and Best in Fair Awards at the Annual State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida. He used his research into classroom instruction to develop computer software that significantly increased comprehension.

There are so many other examples I can’t list them all, but it has been a privilege to watch our eclectic senior class prepare for and select their next journey after graduation. So many of our students have earned scholarships, industry certifications, job placement, associate degrees and now their diploma. From academic to athletic signing day, as well as awards to prom night, we have witnessed our senior class of 2022 shine bright!

I would like to thank all of our school staff, faculty and administrators for continually adapting to the everchanging world in which we live. We truly appreciate all of the hard work, early mornings and late nights. Thank you also to our parents, students and community for their support through another unprecedented year.

Congratulations Class of 2022! We are proud of each one of you. Have a wonderful summer and we look forward to a new school year.

Debbie Jordan, is the chair of the Lee County School Board. She represents District 4.