The Connection

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Much of the Robinson family pointed out every girl entering the floor of the Patriot Center, trying to determine at a distance which was McKayla Robinson. It wasn’t an easy task, and each one of the parents filling the 10,000 seat sports center at George Mason University was attempting to accomplish. More than 700 students were gathered at the Patriot Center on June 15 for the 2015 T.C. Williams High School graduation.

“Is that her?” They would ask, and LaKeyda Robinson shook her head. Even at this distance, a mother could pick her daughter out of a crowd.

“She’s in the back,” said LaKeyda Robinson as her daughter walked in. At that point, the families shook their banners. The main one, spread across four seats, congratulated McKayla Robinson on getting into Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. LaKeyda Robinson said her daughter was going to study physical therapy. While at TC, in addition to her classes, MeKayla Robinson played volleyball, softball, and briefly basketball.

“She played sports for all four years, and she absolutely thrived,” said LaKeyda Robinson. “She’s so active, and she just thrives in everything she does.”

While not every family had a banner, the parents and families filling the stands of the Patriot Center were no less enthusiastic to see their children graduate.

A few rows below the Robinsons, Jane and Richard Tynan were trying to spot their son Davin. Davin Tynan has been through Alexandria schools for 13 years and is planning on attending Coastal Carolina University to study business. Jane Tynan said TC’s College Summit, a national program that helps encourage students to attend college and find one that fits them, was particularly helpful during her son’s decision making process.

Sports played a large part in many of the TC students’ lives. Pamela Underhill remembered one volleyball game with her daughter, Madeline Foster, had a teammate who had been unable to play for part of the season. In the final game, Foster made sure the girl had a chance to go out onto the field with the team. Foster started her schooling at Charles Barrett Elementary School and plans on continuing it post-High School at Smith College in Massachusetts to study global affairs. Underhill said it’s a choice of major that very much suits her daughter, whose fondest memory from her daughter’s high school years was when Foster returned home from a year studying in Panama speaking fluent Spanish, a language she didn’t know when she had left.

It wasn’t an easy journey for all of the students, or parents. Renee Smith recalled that her son, Na’eem Kearney, had difficulty with many of the school’s standardized tests.

“It was a long journey to get here,” said Smith. “He struggled through some of the test, but when he passed it, that was such a proud moment for us.”

Na’eem Kearney’s sister, Jasmine Smith, said the family had come to Alexandria from New Jersey, where the testing was not as rigorous.

“The classes here were more challenging,” said Jasmine Smith, “But that was a good thing.”

Jasmine Smith said that the family is getting ready for another transition as Na’eem Kearney prepares to go to VSU to study computer programming, but said that the family is ready for him to be able to follow his own path.

Both Salutatorian Barbara Peisch and Valedictorian Benjamin Thomas encouraged the peers to take time, every now and then, to stop and appreciate what they have. Peisch said the moments she remembered most from High School weren’t tests or homework, but driving to school with her friend or seeing her art teacher, Holly Langenfeld, be emotional when describing her favorite Michelangelo piece.

“I found a home here in those moments,” said Peish.

Thomas referenced a joke told by American novelist David Foster Wallace about two fish who don’t know they’re surrounded by water.

“Sometimes we miss what’s all around us,” said Thomas. “There is so much potential here.”

Thomas encouraged his classmates to go out and, even if only in a small way, make a positive impact on someone else’s life.

The room fell silent as Principal Suzanne Maxey stood to speak. After five years as principal of TC, this was Maxey’s final address to the class of 2015.

“There is so much I want to say,” said Maxey. She added that she would love to fill the speech with stories about each of the students, and could, but they were short on time. “Instead, I’ll focus on something we have in common … We are both leaving the security of known routine to face new ideas and challenges … But you are a Titan. Although you are leaving us, a part of you remains here.”

After the ceremony, parents and families met with the students, still in their caps and gowns, clutching their diplomas. Aisha Yunas’ whole family had come to see her graduate. For Yunas, the best part of high school was getting a chance to meet new people over the course of her four years at TC. Her mother, Sumaeira Mubarak, said that the family lived close to the school and recalled several times where she’d get phone calls from the school when Yunas would ask her to bring over supplies that she’d forgotten.

“It feels so good to be here today,” said Mubarak. “In a way, it feels like I graduated.”

Nearby, twins Surafel and Kirubel Adere took pictures with their family while the crowds around the Patriot Center began to disperse.

“It feels amazing,” said Surafel. “It’s great to feel like you accomplished something, like you were a part of something greater than yourself.”