Eastlake High School celebrated more than 760 graduates at the Don Haskins Center, where Principal Gilbert Martinez presided over his final commencement ceremony before retiring.
Martinez helped open Eastlake in 2010 and became principal the following year after serving as an assistant principal. A Hanks High School graduate, he earned degrees from UTEP and Sul Ross State University and spent more than a decade leading the campus after helping establish it in its early years.
“It’s surreal,” Martinez said, referencing a country song lyric: “Days go by slow and years go by fast. I can’t believe how fast it’s gone.”…