V. Sue Cleveland High School celebrates 500 graduates at Rio Rancho Events Center

More than 500 V. Sue Cleveland High School seniors crossed the stage at the Rio Rancho Events Center on May 27, turning a school ceremony into a packed Sandoval County milestone. The parking lot was full, the venue glowed in Storm blue, and the scene felt larger than a campus rite of passage.

Doors opened at 8 a.m., with graduation set for 10 a.m., and the Events Center listed parking as free for families filling the building. Cleveland’s own calendar marked CHS Graduation as an all-day event, underscoring how the ceremony capped the school year for the campus. Senior final exams ran May 18-20, and underclassman final exams followed May 28-29.

Student leaders helped anchor the morning. Stacey Asonganyi, the 2026 student body president, tied her remarks to community, while Class of 2026 president Mireya Cereceres welcomed a house that was full with students, families, teachers and staff. The tone was celebratory, but it also carried the weight of a difficult school year. Faculty member Sawyer Schultz described it as his hardest year and acknowledged that some students and families had moved through a dark time before reaching the finish line.

The ceremony also reflected a new era for Rio Rancho Public Schools. Superintendent Robert W. Dodd, who was named in December 2025 in the district’s first superintendent transition in 31 years, was among the central figures recognizing the Class of 2026. He began his first official day on April 6 and visited all 21 district schools within his first six weeks, building visibility across the system before graduation season arrived.

At the Events Center, Dodd introduced a new tradition by asking members of Storm athletic teams, arts groups, clubs and other student organizations to stand and be recognized one by one. The gesture pushed the ceremony beyond diplomas and toward the broader culture that shaped the class, from classrooms to fields, stages and activity groups. Dodd told graduates to leave people and places better than they found them, a message that framed their departure as both an ending and a responsibility.

The venue has become familiar ground for Cleveland’s biggest class moments. Graduation was held there in 2024 and again in 2025, making the Rio Rancho Events Center the school’s regular stage for large-scale sendoffs. For Cleveland’s newest graduates, the morning marked the handoff from a year of exams, recognition and resilience into whatever comes next for Sandoval County’s next wave of young adults.