The morning of May 30 was one I had been looking toward for months.
When I found out in March that I had blood cancer, there was one date I circled in my mind: graduation. I didn’t know if I would be healthy enough to be there. My goal quietly became, “Just make it to graduation.”
Three months, several rounds of chemotherapy, and a whole lot of encouragement from this community later, I walked onto the field as principal of Del Oro High School.
It wasn’t just another graduation.
It felt like the finish line of a race I never expected to run.
The doctors had finally given me permission to come back to work that week. As I joked during my speech, my blood counts had finally reached the “you don’t have to be terrified of a handshake” range.
For the first time in months, life felt normal again.
And then I got to do one of my favorite things in the world: address a group of students who are stepping into their next adventure.
I always try to frame my speeches around a story. This year, it was a story about Mexican Free-Tailed Bats!
Four years earlier, as the Class of 2026 was beginning high school, my family happened to visit Bracken Cave outside San Antonio, home to nearly 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats, the largest mammal colony on earth. Every evening, these 15 million bats leave the cave, traveling up to 70 miles in search of food. And somehow, hours later, every single one returns to almost the exact same square foot they left, alongside the same few hundred bats they spend each day with.
That image became a metaphor for what Del Oro has become for so many students.
As I told the graduates,
“HOME is never JUST a place. It’s people. It’s shared experiences. It’s the feeling of being known. It’s the sense that there’s a place for you here.”
After being away from campus for nearly three months, those words felt even more personal for me.
One of the things cancer clarified for me was how much this place has become home for my family.
This made another part of graduation especially meaningful.
My son, Bracken, graduated as valedictorian.
I’ve been fortunate to speak at graduations before, but this was the first time I got to share the stage with one of my own children. Watching him deliver his speech to his classmates was one of the proudest moments I’ve experienced as a dad.
Some days have a way of becoming milestones.
May 30 was one of those days.
It marked the end of treatment.
It marked the beginning of a new chapter for 381 seniors.
And for me, it was a reminder that even after difficult seasons, you eventually find your way back home.
If you’d like to watch the ceremony, you can find the full video here.
Go Eagles!
Mr. Zerwas 