More than 600 high school seniors in Union City will receive their diplomas this Wednesday, June 23, at 7 p.m. The students are the first class to graduate from the newly built Union City High School, which merged Emerson and Union Hill high schools.
“The first one of anything is special,” said UCHS Principal David Wilcomes last week. “And it’s also nerve wracking because we’re still trying to figure out how you graduate 600 kids.”
Wilcomes was the principal at the former Union Hill High School, where he graduated 300 students last year – just half the amount who are graduating from the combined school this year.
“People are coming together and new bonds and friendships are being made that will last forever.” – Justin Perez
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“We’re still trying to figure out a lot of things,” said Wilcomes. “We’re finding out that everything we do is large.”
Academic success
The 2010 graduating class is full of talent. After graduation, UCHS students are headed to a variety of prestigious colleges including Princeton, Columbia, and John Hopkins.
The senior class contains two recipients of Bill Gates Millennium Scholarships, a Nordstrom Scholarship winner, and a Gold Medal winner in the Hudson County Science Fair who then came in third in the international competition.
Approximately 65 scholarships were scheduled to be given out at a scholarship award ceremony hosted by the school on June 17. Wilcomes said that over $60,000 of school scholarships would be given to students during the awards ceremony plus additional funds from outside organizations.
Reaching out to help others
Valedictorian Justin Perez has been an active member of the arts community at UCHS, participating in school musicals, the school band, and even his own band. For his own band, he writes songs, sings, and plays guitar.
Perez said that although combining with a former rival school was a rough transition at first, eventually everyone came together.
He said it was a beautiful sight to see.
“People are coming together and new bonds and friendships are being made that will last forever,” said Perez. “This experience was not only enjoyable but also helped prepare me for what I am sure to face in college.”
Perez plans to attend Princeton University to prepare for law school. Although law school was only a recent thought for Perez, he said the idea of becoming a lawyer is interesting because he wants to be able to defend people who can’t defend themselves.
“Many people are treated unfairly in the world, and I’d love to do my part in helping them,” said Perez.
Ready for the next level
Elaine Gomez began her high school years at Union Hill and said that the transition to a new school during senior year was difficult at first.
“When you’re a senior, you kind of expect to know where everything is,” she said. “But it became home after a while. You met new people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise.”
Though the end of high school is sad for some, for Gomez, it is just the beginning.
“I’m excited for the new chapter of my life,” she said. “My school was wonderful, I enjoyed it. But I know now that I’m on to new things. I’ll always be a Union City girl.”
Winner of two gold medals at the Hudson County Science Fair and President of the Science Club for two years, Gomez also founded the environmental branch of the club that worked with the Board of Education to install eco-practices at the high school.
She’s headed to the nearby New Jersey Institute of Technology in the fall. She said that the British Petroleum oil spill that has been ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico since April 20 will have an effect on her studies.
“It’s definitely going to affect me in college,” said Gomez. “It gives me a little bit more motivation to continue my research. I’m going to try and do research in the area to help the marshes.”
Gomez, who was part of the Academic Enrichment Academy at UCHS, hopes to achieve a graduate degree environmental engineering on her way to becoming a chemical engineer.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.