Alex Casillas four years ago stood on the courtyard stage at George McParland School.

His eighth grade year was at an end and he was ready for the next stop in his education just down the street on Northgate Drive at East Union High.

Casillas was back on the same stage at McParland on Wednesday morning along with 35 of his classmates donning Lancer red gowns and mortar boards.

It was after taking a victory lap, if you will, to the sounds of music like Queen’s “We Are the Champions” as elementary students lined up clapping, offering high fives as well as fist bumps, and holding up a variety of signs that essentially carried the same message — congratulations.

“It made me happy to (realize) I made it this far,” said Casillas who is part of the East Union Class of 2026 that is some 300 plus strong.

In two weeks, Casillas and his classmates will be wearing the same caps and gowns graduating high school at the Dino Cunial Stadium.

They were doing something just as monumental Wednesday.

They returned to the elementary school to thank teachers and staff for helping them succeed and to provide inspiration to future Lancers.

It was the first Senior Walk staged by East Union High with graduating seniors returning to elementary campuses that feed into the high school.

The schools included McParland, Stella Brockman, Golden West, French Camp, Neil Hafley, and New Haven. Included in the mix was St. Anthony’s School.

Graduating senior Emiliano Aparicio said he felt good being able to participate in the Senior Walk that is also designed as a way to inspire younger students.

McParland teachers felt the same way.

Principal Melanie Smith noted the event helped serve as a bridge to eighth graders’ next step; high school.

“We should celebrate each other,” Smith said. “We don’t do it enough.”

And make no doubt it. This wasn’t all about the return of the proverbial conquering heroes in terms of earning a high school diploma.

Numerous seniors sought out their formal teachers to exchange hugs, pose for photos, and to offer a heart-felt thank-you.

The elementary students offered a variety of ways to celebrate the moment from blowing soap bubbles and waving signs they created on poster board with generic congratulation wording to specific messages such as “Love You Brayden” and “Once a Knight, always a Knight.”

The inaugural Senior Walk — organized by East Union High teachers Eryn Bowers, Jenaia Cano, and Kinsley Herrera — will take place again next year with the intent for it to become an ongoing Lancer tradition.

Bowers noted it was about seniors sharing memories with their former teachers as well as building a bridge to East Union High.

And while the music selection that accompanied the procession started with “We Are the Champions”, it ended with an equally apropos selection, Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” (for summer).

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com