GRADUATION: One week until two ceremonies, plus one local alum’s college triumph

(WSB photo, CSIHS graduation 2022)

One week from tonight, graduation ceremonies will be held for the Class of 2024 from Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle High School. Again this year, Seattle Public Schools has scheduled both ceremonies for Memorial Stadium downtown (401 5th Ave. N.) – CSIHS at 5 pm, WSHS at 8 pm. (The graduations are expected to be streamed live on the district’s YouTube channel, too.)

It’s also graduation season for colleges and universities, and that means a new round of celebrations for alums from both schools from just a few years ago, as they complete their degrees. One proud parent of a WSHS graduate emailed us to share the news that his daughter had graduated as college valedictorian. We featured Keaton Dickinson here in her junior year when she won a city essay contest. Here’s what dad Corey Dickinson tells us:

Keaton has been a lifelong West Seattle resident and product of Seattle Public Schools. She developed her love of learning at Schmitz Park Elementary School (now Genesee Hill Elementary) from the incredible teachers, staff, and administrators. She continued on through Madison Middle School and onto West Seattle High School, where she graduated in 2020. At West Seattle High School, Keaton benefited from the many great instructors who guided and prepped her for college. Keaton took advantage of the AP classes offered, formed a Gun Violence Prevention club, registered 500 first-time voters, testified before the Washington State Senate regarding gun violence prevention, and helped get gun safety initiatives on the Washington State ballot and ultimately passed.

Keaton continued her education at the University of Southern California, where she was named Valedictorian of the School of Public Policy. On May 10th, Keaton delivered an inspiring and heartfelt Valedictorian speech in front of a crowd of 6,000 graduates and guests in the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Below is her speech.

What’s next for Keaton? Corey tells us she “is looking at opportunities in affordable housing.” Congratulations to all 2024 grads – high schools and colleges!

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5 Replies to "GRADUATION: One week until two ceremonies, plus one local alum's college triumph"

Ms. Dahms June 11, 2024 (8:17 pm)

Great job, Keaton! I’m so happy to see you continuing to follow your passion. Go out and continue to make a difference. You make your Wildcat community proud.

Wsea June 12, 2024 (6:51 am)

Does anyone know if future ceremonies will go back to being in West Seattle? I’m not sure why they switched the location to downtown.

Kelly M June 12, 2024 (1:30 pm)

Memorial Stadium seats about 10,000 while Nino Cantu seats about 4,000. Having the ceremonies at Memorial means they don’t have to limit students to a certain number of attendee tickets!
Local June 12, 2024 (6:06 pm)

Ceremonies at memorial stadium mean more people can attend with (maybe?) no need for a limit on how many family members/people can attend for an individual graduate. I graduated in 2015 and it was held at SWAC and we were only allowed 4 tickets if, if I remember correctly. That worked for myself and my family but there are a lot grads who have much larger families and a whole host of people supporting them who were not able to attend due to capacity. Memorial Stadium is best.