That’s how the Chief Sealth International High School Class of 2026 ended their commencement ceremony at McCaw Hall downtown less than an hour ago, with tassel-turn speaker Satomi Giedeman shouting repeatedly, “Are you ready?” and the 320+ new grads affirming before turning their tassels and tossing their caps. McCaw Hall is filling in this year for Memorial Stadium, unavailable because of the rebuild. The dim light is the biggest difference; otherwise, the venue seemed to hold everyone comfortably. Here’s the seniors’ entrance procession:

We have lots more video to add (Thursday morning) from the hour-plus ceremony, with student and staff speakers as well as welcomes from. CSIHS principal Hope Perry and first-year district superintendent Ben Shuldiner, but first, one more graduation to cover!

ADDED THURSDAY MORNING: The principal and superintendent are in our first clip – this was his first year of SPS commencements, and her second year leading Chief Sealth IHS:

Student singers performed next, out of view of where our video camera was tationed, but you can see/hear them on the district recording of the ceremony (18 minutes in). Student speakers followed – our next clip includes valedictorian Addison Wynn Johnson-Whited, who noted that “We were the first class after the pandemic to rebuild Sealth’ community,” and grad Siyam Mohamed, who gave part of her speech in multiple languages:

Staff speaker Maha Giundi gave a speech vowing to tell the grads the truth and including the advice, “Go find your people … and tell the truth about who you are.”

The ceremony ended well before sunset, so its location facilitated photo ops on the Seattle Center grounds:

Still adding …