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Arm raised, senior class president Malick Katalika takes one last picture with the 2024 graduates. Katalika gave a brief speech to share his experience as class president this past year. He will be attending Oral Robert’s University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Sofia Ayala)As superintendent Holly Ferguson tells students to take out their phones, seniors Nada and Nelly Gad send a message to a loved one thanking them for their support. Nelly Gad will attend the University of North Texas in the fall. Nada Gad also plans to attend UNT. (Sofia Ayala)Seconds after entering the gates of the stadium, senior McKenna Mitchell and Taylor Nguyen catch up before the ceremony. “I’m excited to go to UT Austin, ‘hook’em,’” Nguyen said. “Just explore a new life, and make new friends.” (Sofia Ayala)Moments after walking the stage, senior Michael Factor embraces his mom, Kelly Factor, who also teaches at Prosper High. Michael Factor attended PHS all four years of high school. He played in the football program during his time here. (Sofia Ayala)Looking into the crowd, senior Haven Sherman walks to the end of the field to get her photo taken before heading back to her seat. Sherman participated in theatre. She also helped with this year’s fashion show on May 15. (Sofia Ayala)Caps in the air, senior Kaya Miller celebrates the conclusion of the graduation. PHS graduates, all 823, had their own favorite memories to share. “My last football game season was definitely memorable. I always went with my three friends and we would make a whole tradition out of it,” Miller said. “We would get ready, go to the game and then go to either dinner at Texas Roadhouse or In-n-Out.” (Sofia Ayala)In the air moments before the ceremony begins, senior James Kim celebrates alongside “The Top 10” people in his class. Kim graduated seventh. He will attend Yale University in the fall. (Sofia Ayala )Before walking out onto the field, seniors America Obregon, Summer Washington and Brenna McFarland laugh at the phone. They made a couple of TikTok videos, each showing the symbol of the college they are going to. For the re-scheduled event, students arrived at PHS at 7 a.m. before being bused to the Children’s Health Stadium, where the ceremony took place. (Erica Deutsch)Diploma in hand, senior Taryn Stilson walks the field. “I’m going to Texas A&M University, and the thing I’m most excited for is like all the Aggie traditions,” Stilson said. “And just finding people that are similar to me.” (Erica Deutsch)Arm raised, senior Lauren Hegarty walks off stage after receiving her diploma. The ceremony was postponed until Thursday morning at 9 a.m. due to inclement weather the previous evening. The original ceremony was supposed to take place Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (Erica Deutsch)After receiving his diploma, senior Remington Martin shakes hands with teacher David Perkins. Each senior took a photo with their diploma immediately after receiving it. Photographers also took pictures as each senior received their diploma on stage and then sent a copy of it to the student or a parent via text message. (Erica Deutsch)Arms out wide, Anu Ganesh walks behind stage. “When I threw my cap, I thought I’d be sad,” Ganesh said. “But, honestly, I felt really free and happy like a weight was off my back.” (Erica Deutsch)Before they get ready to throw their caps, seniors clap after the student council president, senior Malik Katalicka, gives his final speech. The ceremony began at 9 a.m. on Thursday and ended at 11:30 a.m. (Erica Deutsch)After the end of the graduation ceremony, senior Jake Corral walks with fellow graduates to the exit of the Children’s Health Stadium. Corral was a member of the Automotive Technologies team. He will attend Oklahoma University in the fall. (Jake Radcliffe)
Who: Prosper High School Seniors
What: PHS Graduation
Where: Children’s Health Stadium
When: Thursday May 23 at 9 a.m.
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What’s next: The 2024-2025 school year will start Aug. 13.
![With the AISD rank and GPA discrepancies, some students had significant changes to their stats. College and career counselor Camille Nix worked with students to appeal their college decisions if they got rejected from schools depending on their previous stats before getting updated. Students worked with Nix to update schools on their new stats in order to fully get their appropriate decisions. “Those who already were accepted [won’t be affected], but it could factor in if a student appeals their initial decision,” Principal Andy Baxa said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/53674616658_18d367e00f_o-1200x676.jpg)
![Junior Mia Milicevic practices her forehand at tennis practice with the WJ girls tennis team. “Sometimes I don’t like [tennis] because you’re alone but most of the time, I do like it for that reason because it really is just you out there. I do experience being part of a team at WJ but in tournaments and when I’m playing outside of school, I like that rush when I win a point because I did it all by myself, Milicevic said. (Courtesy Mia Milicevic)](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/c54807e1-6ab6-4b0b-9c65-bfa256bc7587.jpg)
![The Jaguar student section sits down while the girls basketball team plays in the Great Eight game at the Denver Coliseum against Valor Christian High School Feb. 29. Many students who participated in the boys basketball student section prior to the girls basketball game left before half-time. I think it [the student section] plays a huge role because we actually had a decent crowd at a ranch game. I think that was the only time we had like a student section. And the energy was just awesome, varsity pointing and shooting guard Brooke Harding ‘25 said. I dont expect much from them [the Golden Boys] at all. But the fact that they left at the Elite Eight game when they were already there is honestly mind blowing to me.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_7517-e1716250578550-900x1200.jpeg)
![BACKGROUND IN THE BUSINESS: Dressed by junior designer Kaitlyn Gerrie, senior Chamila Muñoz took to the “Dreamland” runway this past weekend. While it was her first time participating in the McCallum fashion show, Muñoz isn’t new to the modeling world.
I modeled here and there when I was a lot younger, maybe five or six [years old] for some jewelry brands and small businesses, but not much in recent years,” Muñoz said.
Muñoz had hoped to participate in last year’s show but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. For her senior year, though, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
“It’s [modeling] something I haven’t done in a while so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone in a way,” Muñoz said. “I always love trying new things and being able to show off designs of my schoolmates is such an honor.”
The preparation process for the show was hectic, leaving the final reveal of Gerrie’s design until days before the show, but the moment Muñoz tried on the outfit, all the stress for both designer and model melted away.
“I didn’t get to try on my outfit until the day before, but the look on Kaitlyn’s face when she saw what she had worked so hard to make actually on a model was just so special,” Muñoz said. “I know it meant so much to her. But then she handed me a blindfold and told me I’d be walking with it on, so that was pretty wild.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/53535098892_130167352f_o-1200x800.jpg)
