Once a Manatee, Always a Manatee: St. Augustine graduating seniors return to Otis Mason

Peter Willott, St. Augustine Record
·2 min read

With broad smiles – and a few tears – graduating high school seniors returned Wednesday to Otis A. Mason Elementary School where they began their journey to adulthood.

Chip Hollister, the school's physical education teacher, started the annual Once a Manatee, Always a Manatee celebration 18 years ago. Named for the school's mascot, the event invites former students to return just before their high school graduation to celebrate their achievements.

Otis A. Mason Elementary School students line the hallways of the school as former students, who are soon to be graduating high school seniors, march through the school wearing their cap and gowns on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.
Otis A. Mason Elementary School students line the hallways of the school as former students, who are soon to be graduating high school seniors, march through the school wearing their cap and gowns on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

“We are so proud of these kids. We have watched them grow up,” Hollister said. “This is my favorite event of the year.”

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Elementary students lined the halls and watched about 30 seniors parade through the hallways of their alma matter in their graduation caps and gowns while "Pomp and Circumstance" played over the school’s public address system.

With high-fives from the students and hugs from former teachers, the soon-to-be graduates marched past every classroom to the school’s music room.

Gathered together in the music room, the high school students reunited with former classmates and teachers, ate cake and watched a video slideshow of them in the fifth grade.

Mason Elementary's first principal Edwina Russell returned to the school to speak to the students.

Graduating Pedro Menendez High School student Morgan Merchant reads a letter she wrote to herself in fifth grade at Otis A. Mason Elementary School with her fifth-grade teacher, Wendy Allen, during the school's 18th annual Once a Manatee, Always a Manatee celebration at the school on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. The celebration invited former Mason students back to the school to open time capsules they wrote before leaving the school.

“The one thing I want you all to remember as you go on in life is that you should never let people tell you that you cannot do something,” Russell said. “You can do anything if you try hard enough.”

The main event of the celebration was opening time capsules that included letters the students wrote to themselves as fifth-graders.

“It was very surreal to participate in an event that I’ve been waiting for since elementary school and it was amazing to be able to walk the halls again and see old teachers,” said graduating Pedro Menendez High School student Morgan Merchant.

“This is a special place. These are great kids. We love them all,” said Hollister. “Once a manatee, always a manatee.”

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: High school grads return to Mason Elementary School in St. Augustine