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Tate High School Class Of 2020 Graduates (With Complete List)

June 24, 2020

The Tate High School Class of 2020 graduated Tuesday night at the Pensacola Bay Center. The ceremony was delayed about a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve overcome so much as a school to get to this point,” said Student Council President Tayler Mills. “…As we move forward to the next chapters in our lives, we will always remember once an Aggie, always an Aggie.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I want a do-over,” Senior Class President Avery Young told her classmates. “Another opportunity to compete on the field or court, another Friday night under the lights, another chance to watch the band perform, another night of Whataburger with our friends, another rodeo, prom, senior skip day, and another last day of school – that we actually know about. And another chance to be in the moment to realize we were in the good old days.”

“But instead of talking about what we missed, let’s focus about the positives. We can now officially one-up every other senior class who may say how rough their class had it.”

Young said the most of the class was born around the September 11, 2001, attack, and they were young students while their parents dealt with the 2008 recession.

“And we are now graduating in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic….another point to be made is how strong we are as a result of these trials,” Young added. “We now know what we are made of, and our strength should help us be better prepared for what lies ahead.”

Valedictorian Gabriel Pfeuffer-Ferguson took the class back to elementary school where they learned “one of the most valuable lessons to take with us through life”. He said it was not reading or multiplying, but the Golden Rule.

“Not only did the (9/11) attacks break the hearts of every American, but it also created an innate reaction from Americans to be scared of Muslims and Middle Easterners,” he said. “Just before starting high school, we were sent into another state of panic after The Pulse Nightclub shooting in our very own state. Forty-nine innocent people were killed during this act of hatred toward the LBGTQ community.”

“Now as we are graduating, our country is facing the monster that is racism. Throughout our history we see that racism has not died down but rather has evolved to fit the time period. Hopefully by now everyone is able to recognize why I mentioned the Golden Rule. Imagine how different the world would be if everyone faced these sort of issues with kindness and acceptance rather than abhorrence and intolerance,” Pfeuffer-Ferguson said.

“Judging someone based on their color, attacking someone based upon who they love, or limiting someone’s rights just because they are different — are most definitely not the right choices. Class of 2020, since we are the generation, the responsibility of being kind falls on us.”

Salutatorian is Nasim Said Boussarhane was unable to attend the ceremony.

Over 19% of the class had a GPA greater than 4.0, and 57% of the class had a GPA greater than 3.0, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said. Collectively, the Tate High graduates earned $5.1 million in scholarships.

The Top Ten Percent honors graduates are as follows: