More than 2,500 graduate from U-46

You would've thought they were rock stars.

But with diplomas in hand instead of mics, more than 2,500 Elgin Area School District U-46 graduates walked the Sears Centre stage Saturday, their biggest fans cheering them on from the stands.

The state's second-largest school district held back-to-back graduation ceremonies for its five high schools at the Hoffman Estates arena.

Bartlett and South Elgin book-ended ceremonies with graduating classes of 650 and 530 students, respectively.

Bartlett Principal Kevin Skinkis told the class they were "a great group of individual students, who have the potential to achieve greatness in the world, as long as you stay focused and work hard."

Along with the names of graduates, each school's commencement booklet listed songs, colors and mascots specific to the class.

For Streamwood, with 470 graduates, the motto was "remember yesterday, dream for tomorrow, live for today," the colors were black and aqua and the was song "World's Greatest" by R. Kelly.

History was made for South Elgin High, whose graduates were among the first group of students to have attended the high school for four years.

"The first (graduating) class always had some reference to what another school was like," Principal Melanie Meidel said. "This is (the Class of 2009's) only high school."

Elgin High, the original high school in District U-46, held its 137th commencement.

"We inherited tradition, which transcends class and socioeconomic background," valedictorian Dylan Piatt told his 400 peers.

"We've become one cohesive unit."

Superintendent Jose Torres, present at all five ceremonies, implored graduates to reflect on a quote from Winston Churchill.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts," the famed British prime minister once said.

For one Elgin High School student, that courage was evident in a realized dream.

Senior Roxy Flores, a hospice patient, had made it her goal to attend her high school graduation.

The wheelchair-bound teen is paralyzed from the waist down and in renal failure. The first in her immediate family to graduate from high school, Flores beamed as Elgin High Principal Dave Smiley placed a diploma in her hand.

"We are so proud of her; we just had to be there," said Carrie Alani, manager of Hope's Friends, the hospice program where Flores is a patient. "She has been so determined to graduate, so we wanted to see her do that."

Along with 460 graduates, Saturday's ceremony would be the last for many Larkin High School department heads and for its principal after an administrative housecleaning at the school by Torres in January.

Several new administrators have been appointed, including Jon Tuin, currently assistant principal at South Elgin High School, as principal.

"The future will be different. Our work is not over. Now is not the time to quit," Larkin senior speaker Kyle Milnamow said.

While many students said they were excited to begin the next chapter of their lives, they also acknowledged that high school went by a little too quickly.

"It hasn't hit me yet that it's all over," Western Illinois University-bound Larkin senior Leah Rybakowski said.