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Fairfax High School celebrated 576 graduates representing 62 countries and 14 languages during its June 5 commencement, honoring a Class of 2025 distinguished by academic achievement, adaptability and support for one another.
Principal Georgina Aye said the graduating Lions had transformed both personally and collectively during their four years at Fairfax. Their influence, she added, also changed the school’s teachers and staff for the better.
The class completed more Advanced Placement, dual-enrollment and advanced-certificate courses than any previous class in school history. Aye said that record reflected not only academic strength, but also the students’ discipline, perseverance and willingness to advocate for themselves.
She emphasized that many graduates had faced challenges their classmates might not have known about. Some adjusted to a new language and culture after fleeing persecution, while others endured the loss of loved ones alongside demanding coursework and the difficulties of adolescence.
Through those experiences, Aye said, students supported one another with empathy, understanding and kindness, making Fairfax High a more compassionate and inclusive school. They also learned accountability by accepting responsibility for their choices, achievements and effect on the wider community.
Aye reminded the graduates that an average high school student spends about 4,758 hours in class. Participation in sports, clubs or other activities can push that total beyond 10,000 hours.
During that time, she said, the students learned to request help, pursue their ambitions and speak forcefully when they encountered injustice or cruelty. She urged them never to lose their voices—or their roar.
Adaptability was another defining trait of the class. The graduates navigated the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as changes closer to home, including new school cellphone rules. Aye encouraged them to view future changes as opportunities to learn and grow.
When life presents an easy route and a difficult one, she advised, they should consider taking the more challenging path because the experience could make them stronger. She asked them to approach the unknown with courage and continue leading through empathy, accountability, hard work and self-advocacy.
Closing her remarks with a lyric from the musical “Wicked,” Aye told the graduates that knowing them had changed her for good.
Physics teacher Pete Peterson followed with advice drawn from two scientific concepts. He described friction as something that can create forward movement when handled constructively. Friction between friends, he said, can lead to greater understanding and stronger relationships, while the struggle involved in learning should not be allowed to halt progress.
Peterson also invoked quantum mechanics to suggest that people can hold opposing feelings at the same time. Graduates might be both hopeful and nervous about their futures, he said, but they could turn that anxiety into energy that propels them ahead.
English teacher Cheryl Spevak then introduced honor graduate Vy Tran, describing her as a compassionate role model committed to marginalized communities and creating safe spaces for others.
Tran reflected on arriving at Fairfax as a 14-year-old introvert who was afraid to try unfamiliar things. By graduation, she said, the school had transformed her.
Although every student created an individual place at Fairfax, Tran said they also built a strong community through everyday moments—from hallway greetings to quick conversations between biology class and lunch. Those connections among students, faculty and staff, she said, defined the school more than its colors or Lion imagery.
Tran thanked the Fairfax community for helping the graduates learn and grow, saying their experiences and memories would remain with them as they moved into the next stage of their lives.
Senior Class President Ivy Anyango presented the class gift: an industrial ice cream machine. She closed by encouraging her classmates to keep showing up for themselves with resilience and persistence—and to shape their stories with the same pride, joy and meaning displayed on their decorated graduation caps.