Jessica Pullen has been a staple of the social studies department since Perry opened its doors in the fall of 2007, and like 14 other current teachers, the 2014 graduation will be their last at PHS.

Pullen, who teaches honors world history and AP human geography, is more than just your typical teacher. From her class Twitter page to her involvement with Block Day Bars in 2013, Pullen has been a fan-favorite year-in and year-out.

“I think people love Ms. Pullen so much because she cares very much about what she does and she wants to be excellent at what she does,” expresses Brandon Keeling, “And I think she is excellent at what she does.” As for the students who have ever had Ms. Pullen, they love her so much because of how obvious it is she cares about her kids and how she has their best interest at heart. To celebrate the time Pullen has served at Perry, Keeling states that the whole social studies department got together and gave her a going-away party

In addition to Pullen, administration is already bracing for the absence of many cherished teachers who are either changing districts, states, careers, or have something bigger they need to attend to.

The teachers include Clint Larson, Kimberly Palomaa, Kristen Pearson, Misty Falkner, Ashley Potuznik, Carly Milbert, Stephanie Esham, Angela Buzan (Kemp), Brittney Britanik, Phillip Moore, Randy Ross, Karen Gelwicks, Reilly Sehl, and Jessica Chlupsa, all of whom will be leaving Perry before the start of the next school year.

Graduation

With the current graduating class of 2014, there will be nearly 550 seniors walking up on stage to receive their diplomas.

Each graduation offers its own set of challenges for school administrators and this year, Principal Dan Serrano in concerned with providing adequate parking for the thousands of spectators expected at John Wrenn Stadium.

“We’ve secured a couple other places for parking to help alleviate some of the pressure here,” says Serrano. “We have the bus barn now that gives us additional spots to put teachers in, and we also have the parking over at Flipside, along with Weinberg.”

With traffic and organization already being a problem, Serrano has to add the possibility of a location change for graduation to his to-do list for the upcoming years.

“We’re trying to keep graduation here at Perry next year also,” says Serrano. When asked if Wells Fargo arena at Arizona State is a consideration for hosting, Serrano stated he’s unsure right now, given it would be very difficult to pack three school’s graduation events into one night at one location as both Hamilton and Basha host their ceremonies there.

For Assistant Principal Joe Greene, the three main complications are seating, parking, and making sure the student who is called is the one walking up on stage. “A lot of it is making sure everyone is in the right place at the right time and everything goes off as seamlessly as we can,” says Greene.

With the freshman class coming in right now, administration can expect the number of graduating seniors to be in the range of 850 to 900 in four years. Relating this to the future location and seating problems, Greene makes a surprising point, “If everybody brings, say, four people, that’s 3,600 people. Where are we going to put them all?”

This is where there is a clash between keeping tradition by using John Wrenn Stadium as the graduation location and having to pack thousands of family members and cars into our scattered parking areas. “We are going to keep it here for as long as we physically can,” explains Greene.

Aside from the difficulties we can see coming from graduation, Greene and Serrano alike say that the best part is seeing the excitement of the kids when they see they fulfilled their goal of graduating. As Greene puts it, “They finally are at the light at the end of the tunnel.”