By Linda Chion
Final contests, banquets and performances mark the end of the academic year, as graduation ceremonies approach for thousands of Hillsborough County high school seniors.
Toward that end, tears were plentiful at Riverview High School on May 1, following the year-end music showcase, featuring choral students from foundational chorus classes, competitive show choir (Vision), and a specialized vocal group (Harmonix). It came on the heels of Mama Mia, staged by musical theater students a week earlier.
The Broadway show and, more recently, a hit film features the music of ABBA, including one song that featured prominently in the May 1 performance, as it marked the final moment seniors would perform with underclassmen. The song, “Thank You for the Music,” featured a compelling set of lyrics, including words that pay homage to the influences in a child’s life.
“It was a good song to pick, as a thank you to everyone, whether it’s teachers, peers, parents or just music in general,” said senior Colton Fletcher, who performed both in Mama Mia and the May 1 concert. “While I don’t want to major in music, at the very least I do want to keep music in my life.”
Fletcher is among the thousands of seniors set to walk the stage at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall for ceremonies heralding graduates from exceptional academies, career excellence academies, adult schools, technical colleges, virtual education and 28 comprehensive high schools. The district’s 29th comprehensive high school, Aquilla J. Morgan in Wimauma, opened for the first time this school year without a senior class.
Upcoming graduation ceremonies include those for Joe E. Newsome High (May 22), Jule F. Sumner High (May 23), Earl J. Lennard High (May 24), Riverview High (May 28), Richard C. Spoto High (May 29) and East Bay High (May 30). Friends and family members unable to attend in person are invited to watch live graduation ceremonies at Hillsborough School TV, Spectrum cable channel 635 or Frontier cable channel 32.
As the days unwind for long last looks and goodbyes, seniors and their underclassmen peers increasingly feel the weight of the moment, that their time together is fleeting.
Final showcase performance at Riverview High ends with seniors and underclassmen savoring the memory.
“As a sophomore, you meet a lot of people from all different grades, and you obviously look up to the seniors,” said Sofia Hernandez-Alanis, a Riverview High choral student. “These people become really important figures to you. They’ve had more experiences than you, and they give you advice when you need it. Seeing them move on and go on to bigger and better things is very emotional because they won’t be here anymore.”
One such friend for Hernandez-Alanis is Fletcher, who is set to attend the University of South Florida. He said he found at Riverview a spirit of inclusion from the start, having entered Riverview as a transfer student halfway through his freshman year.
Echoing that sentiment is senior Thalia Cox, who also had a starring role in Mama Mia and performed in the year-end music showcase. “It definitely was an emotional time, especially as a senior, singing ‘Thank You for the Music,’ first for theater and then for chorus,” she said. “I didn’t cry at the end of Mama Mia, but having the underclassmen help us put on our [graduation] robes [and caps] for the final showcase, it was very sad. But I also wanted to be grateful for the teachers, and for the many amazing connections I built through the music program.”
Riverview choral programs are led by Elizabeth “Liz” Stewart, director of choral activities, and Acadia Bravo, a Riverview graduate and Stewart’s former student, who serves as choral director. For years Bravo has built her programs, working in tandem with Stewart, who has decades of music teaching experience, including 21 years at Riverview High.
It was not by chance that “Thank You for the Music” was chosen as the seniors’ swan song, as the lyrics express gratitude for the gift of music and the influences that pave the way for that relationship.
“It’s a song the kids could sing to their parents, for supporting them, and to their teachers, for what they learn,” Stewart said. “It’s also a song for teachers to sing to their students because music is a reciprocal type of situation. When you have a musical experience with a person or a situation associated with music, it becomes a core memory.”
“And that’s the best reason for singing ABBA together May 1 at Riverview High,” she added, “because every time they hear ‘Thank You for the Music,’ it will remind them of their final concert together.”
