Meridian High School

They arrived as the largest kindergarten class in Falls Church City Public Schools history. On Tuesday morning — under a gray, stubborn sky that threatened rain from first processional to final recessional — all 244 of them crossed a finish line together.

• 68 International Baccalaureate Diploma candidates await official results this summer.

• 22 more completed the IB Career-Related Program, combining rigorous IB coursework with specialized career pathways.

• 115 students earned the Meridian Scholar Award (3.85+ GPA with advanced academic requirements).

• 97 are Valedictory Scholars with GPAs of 4.0 or higher.

• And 5 are National Merit Scholarship finalists.

He Moved With Them

Rob Carey began his FCCPS administrative career in 2016, the year this class arrived as third graders at Thomas Jefferson Elementary — now Oak Street. When they moved up to Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, Carey moved with them. When they moved to Meridian, he followed again. On Tuesday, as Meridian's assistant principal, he delivered the commencement address and sent them off to the one place he can't follow.

"Since 2016, we've walked these hallways together," Carey told the graduates. "In so many ways, I grew up with you."

His speech centered on a story about the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who was once asked what she considered the first true sign of civilization. Not weapons. Not shelter. A healed femur bone — evidence that someone, long ago, had stayed with an injured person, cared for them, kept them alive.

"A healed femur means that someone else took the time to stay," Carey said. "Helping someone through their darkest hour — that's where civilization began."

He challenged graduates to embrace discomfort, seek unfamiliar experiences, and resist the pull of a small life. "You were not meant to just survive the world," he told them. "You were meant to engage it, to challenge it, and to leave it a little different than you found it."

On this class, his read has never wavered: "The word that has always come to mind is character."

A New Superintendent's First Graduation

For Dr. Terry Dade, Tuesday was a milestone of his own. Less than a year into his tenure as FCCPS superintendent, this was his first Meridian graduation — and he came with a clear message about what the diplomas handed out actually mean.

"We are here to celebrate a finish line," he told the graduates, "but more importantly, to honor the diverse paths you all took to reach it."

He acknowledged the seals and honors on those diplomas — IB, arts, language mastery — but didn't stop there. "The true story of this class isn't found only in awards and GPAs," he said. "For some, it was mastering a difficult subject. For others, it was the quiet resilience required to balance life's challenges while showing up every day."

His closing thought landed simply: "Excellence isn't just built on the titles that you earn. It's about the character you've built and the persistence you've practiced."

Their Voices

Valedictory scholar Alba Selle opened the student addresses by reaching for García Márquez — in the original Spanish. "Life is not what one lives," she said, "but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it." A fitting frame for a class shaped by the world and by each other.

Eli Kulok challenged classmates to stop measuring themselves against an impossible standard of perfection and choose a life defined by connection rather than accumulation. "You are so much more than your college or your career path or your popularity in high school," he said. "It's about damn time we take control of our lives." The crowd responded accordingly.

Senior class treasurer Claire Dassira announced the class gift: a full renovation of the outdoor memorial brick area at the front of the school — new furniture, garden materials, a real place for future Mustangs to gather. Quiet. Practical. Generous. Entirely in character.

Seth Hahn spoke last, cataloging the indignities of six years of school construction, a famously un-air-conditioned fourth floor, and the legendary hole in the fence near the Virginia Tech parking lot. Then he turned serious. "Through all those challenges, big and small, we made it through, and we crossed the finish line. We showed up, and we figured it out."

A Note on the Weather

Rain threatened all morning. Umbrellas stayed at the ready. The sky never committed to blue. Principal Peter Laub acknowledged early what everyone already knew: the conditions were not perfect.

But as Laub said in his closing remarks, quoting Gregg Popovich: "The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn't go our way."

This class has had a lot of practice with that.

School Board Chair Kathleen Tysse — herself the mother of a graduate — said it plainly: "You challenged us to think harder and do better."

Some of these students have been in Falls Church City since Jesse Thackrey Preschool. Others found their way here from across the country and around the world. Either way, they built something together. On Tuesday, in the rain, they celebrated it.

The graduation ceremony was held on the Meridian High School field.
FCCPS Photo: Carol Sly