"Insta-Worthy Moments" was the theme of speeches delivered at Columbia High School's Class of 2023 graduation. The ceremony took place on June 1 at the high school. Kenny Tran was named valedictorian.
"We had open audition tryouts for students who wanted to speak," explained teacher Linda Eckman Wissler. "We asked them to prepare a one- to two-minute speech, and we selected three students to speak."
The speakers were Ciara Ramos, Mercyangelis Gonzalez Morillo and salutatorian Mallory Conroy.
Ciara is the daughter of Michelle Ramos of Columbia and Julio Ramos. She said she was hesitant initially about speaking, but she's glad she tried out. "Something just called me to do it," she recalled. "I said I'd take a chance, and I did." Her speech focused on what the various moments throughout high school meant to her and her classmates and all of the things the Class of 2023 has gone through. At Columbia, Ciara was active in the theater program. She plans to attend HACC, Central Pennylvania's Community College for two years before transferring to a university.
Mercyangelis is the daughter of Jose Rosado and Mercybel Morillo of Columbia. She was a member of the volleyball team at Columbia and plans to play volleyball for Penn State University. "My speech talked about the situations that made me the person who I am today," she stated. "I talked about how I moved here from Puerto Rico without knowing any English when I was 12."
Mallory is the daughter of Michael and April Conroy of Columbia. She took the theme of "Insta-Worthy Moments" to heart in her speech, noting, "I specifically wanted to talk about the discrepancy in social media between what you see and what is actually going on behind the scenes." She plans to attend Shippensburg University and major in psychology. At Columbia, she participaticed on the track and cross-country teams, was a member of the National Honor Society and Student Council, served as yearbook editor and was a class officer for all four years.
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