NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN GRADUATING CLASS: 303 SIZE OF CLASS WHEN IT STARTED HIGH SCHOOL: 563 VALEDICTORIAN: David Harmel
SALUTATORIAN: Andriy Lytvyn SPEAKERS: Brooke Coscarart, student government president; Harmel; Ronald Norwood, Pinellas County Schools' director of personnel relations; Sara Elizabeth Fuller, senior class president
BEHIND THE SCENES: A sea of royal blue gowns met a sea of crimson gowns as departing Gibbs graduates came face to face with arriving Northeast graduates in the parking garage.
FAMOUS PEOPLE QUOTED DURING SPEECHES: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edmund Burke
BEST QUOTE BEFORE THE CEREMONY: Northeast High teacher Dennis Crider to the graduates as they prepared to enter the arena: "Slow down! It took 12 years for you to get here. Don't rush."
BEST QUOTE DURING THE CEREMONY: Harmel: "It is important to remember that what is popular is not always best, and what is best is not always popular. Don't be afraid to be yourself."
STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT'S CHARGE TO THE GRADUATES: "Discover what will make you happy."
SPECIAL SALUTE: To David Syster, an earth science and ecology teacher and peer counseling sponsor who is retiring after 19 years at Northeast High and 30 years in the Pinellas school district.
SPECIAL MOMENT: Principal Michael Miller's request for a moment of silence for servicemen and women before the Pledge of Allegiance; graduate Shannon Foster's stirring rendition of the national anthem.
