TAMPA – 2026 not only marks one of the most accomplished graduating classes in Sunlake High School history but it’s also a personal milestone for Principal Kara Merlin.
Forty years ago, Merlin walked across the stage as a graduating senior. She remembers life being much slower in 1986.
“If you had told me that today’s teenagers would be inseparable from a device you can hold in your hand, secure on your wrist or wear as spectacles, and that this singular device would replace a Walkman, a camera, encyclopedias, textbooks, telephones and also give away your location, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Merlin told students on June 5 at the Yuengling Center.
She connected this nostalgia to a man walking across eight lanes of traffic one Thursday afternoon at Little Road and State Road 54. She noticed how the pedestrian started walking into the intersection before transitioning into a jog.
She wondered why everyone seems to be in a hurry.
“I want you to take time to appreciate how awesome the world is for you compared to what it was like when I graduated way back when,” she said, mentioning tools like smartphones and social media that help us connect to information simultaneously. “Live in the moment. Let the memories you create be etched deeply in your mind and not just in the cloud.”
The Class of 2026 achieved the highest graduation rate in school history, according to Merlin. The class also had 369 honors graduates, including Valedictorian Isheeta Mishra.
“I don’t think any of us got here on our own, “ Isheeta said. “Not because we didn’t work hard, but because at some point, somebody made things a little easier for us when they didn’t have to.”
A couple of these instances happened during her freshman year. Isheeta remembers feeling overwhelmed when her schedule changed mid-year and she didn’t know where to go. A senior noticed and offered to take her to the office.
“My schedule never changed, but my perspective did because, at that moment, a complete stranger I never saw again went out of their way to care when they didn’t have to,” Isheeta said. “And I think that’s something we don’t really notice while it’s happening.”
She told classmates that there will be times when they see someone feeling overwhelmed or lost like she was. They can walk on by or intervene.
She encouraged classmates to become random people in “someone else’s story.”
Salutatorian Kayla Rivera’s parting wisdom also involved decisions.
“In your future, every choice you make, every step you take, and everything you work toward should be something that you want to do,” Rivera said.
She encouraged classmates to make decisions that won’t lead to what-ifs later. She evoked author Mark Twain, when she said, “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.”
Slight adjustments like studying harder for the next test can ensure you don’t bomb one again. Surrounding yourself around people that encourage you can help, too.
“With the right people, good choices are much clearer to see and easier to make,” she said. “In the end, this life is yours and yours only. Do what will make you happy and proud of yourself in the future. Don’t worry about what others will think of you. At the end of the day, you are the one who lives with the consequences of your actions.”
