Grads discuss presidential commencement

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - The roughly 300 graduates of Kalamazoo Central High School shook 13 sets of hands as they walked across the stage at their commencement Monday -- including those of the president of the United States.

"I'm overpowered with joy," graduate Christian Arias told 24 Hour News 8 after the ceremony.

Arias plans to head to Western Michigan University next year.

And he probably wouldn't be able to do that, he said, if it weren't for one of the programs that drew President Barack Obama to Central High School's commencement: the Kalamazoo Promise. The privately funded Promise offers up to four years of free college tuition and fees for qualifying graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools.

"It pushed me to try harder," Arias said. "And I think if I wouldn't have had it, I probably wouldn't be in a good situation right now."

He will join fellow graduate Cara Cunliffe at Western next year. She's one of the students who put together the video that helped Kalamazoo Central land the top spot in the president's commencement challenge.

"I still can't believe that it happened," she said. "I'm still in shock."

Cunliffe said she was shocked in particular by her chance to meet Obama.

"I'll remember when he surprised us in the waiting area," she said. "Everybody was crying. He came up to me, he looked at me, shook my hand and said, 'How are you? Are you OK?' "

Still crying, Cunliffe said she was able to say she was fine and thank the president. "It was amazing," she said. "He actually spoke to me."

And what will class president Monique Gardner remember most?

"I know most people will say, 'When President Obama spoke,' but for me, it's more of when I got my diploma," Gardner said. "Because it's something that I worked hard for. And it's something that everyone worked hard for."