Graduation season remains in full swing in the area, and this week features several events for students in the Riverbank Unified School District.

Cardozo Middle School students will have their eighth-grade graduation at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 at Riverbank High School.

Thursday, May 28 will see two events staged at the high school, with Adelante High School graduates celebrated with a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. and the Class of 2026 at Riverbank High School taking center stage in a 7:30 p.m. ceremony.

For Riverbank High School, Peyton Shrider is the Valedictorian and Lilly Hurtado is the Salutatorian; both are scheduled to give speeches at the commencement ceremony on Thursday.

“I was super excited,” Shrider said of learning she was Valedictorian of her class. “I’ve been doing dual enrollment since my freshman year so it’s been something I’ve worked toward for a long time.”

She will graduate high school with about 40 college credits as well due to the dual enrollment.

She will attend Oregon State in the fall to study nuclear engineering but has a long-term goal of being in the Army, so she hopes to take part in the ROTC program at Oregon State. She also plans to re-apply to attend West Point Military Academy next year.

At Riverbank, she was involved in sports including flag football and wrestling. She said a friend from Orestimba High School suggested she try flag football. Shrider said it was fun to be a ‘pioneer’ of the new sport for girls, and she also enjoyed wrestling for that reason as well.

She has a little advice for her fellow students: “Just keep going; life has twists and turns but at the end, you will end up where you’re meant to be,” she said, adding that bringing a positive attitude every day will help with the journey.

Salutatorian Lilly Hurtado said she always wanted to be among the top of her class academically but wasn’t sure she would make it.

“My sophomore year I got a B in one of my classes,” she said, “and I literally thought that it was over. Then it happened again my junior year, I got another B.”

But, with encouragement from her mom, she continued studying and working hard, and now has seen that pay off with her selection as Salutatorian.

She plans to start at Modesto Junior College and then transfer to Stan State, pursuing a teaching degree with a goal of being a Spanish or English teacher. At Riverbank, she was involved in the Drama Club, primarily working backstage on productions.

Her recommendation to students that will be returning to campus next year is simple: “Don’t doubt yourself,” Hurtado said. “Your mistakes, even though they seem big at the time, they might not be that big in the future so don’t stress about it.”