PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — St. Pete College freshman Dalila Lugo gets right to work on her assignment for speech class after the first day of class on Monday.

The 2021 graduate of Seminole High School wants to be an elementary school teacher because she loves kids.

"I just love them so much, they always like to talk to me and teaching kids is always to fun to mold their minds at such a young age and see them grow up," said Lugo.

Dalila is just one of the graduates helping Pinellas County Schools mark a milestone of record-breaking graduation rates at 92%, despite all the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Seminole High School posted a whopping 99%.

The district says Largo High School showed the greatest improvement at 96.5%.

Sarai Faulkner is a 2021 Largo High graduate.

"I was on the varsity soccer team for four years and that's what I do now, is I play Division 1 soccer," said Faulkner.

The athlete and scholar graduated with a 4.5 GPA.

"I've never met teachers that I've connected with so much that have made such an impact on me," said Faulkner. "It gets me really emotional because I really miss them."

Faulkner is attending college in Tennessee on athletic and academic scholarships.

"I plan on getting my degree in biochemistry with a minor in Spanish and I want to become a physician assistant," said Faulkner.

Largo High School principal Brad Finkbiner is proud of the rates, saying it starts early in education.

"We have a number of former Largo alumni that are instructors here and they wanted to come back and they wanted to provide guidance and direction for those kids," said Finkbiner.

Students are taking that direction from their high school campus to college.

And now a student learning to teach wants to inspire kids, too.

"Someone they can rely on, someone that they don't see as a big authority, they just see someone they can come to whenever they have a problem at home or a problem at school," said Lugo of the type of teacher she wants to be for her future students.

PINELLAS COUNTY 2020-2021 GRADUATION RATES

• Boca Ciega High School: 95.5%
• Clearwater High School: 96.1%
  
• Countryside High School: 95.9%
  
• Dunedin High School: 97.2%
• East Lake High School: 100%
  
• Gibbs High School: 90.6%
  
• Hollins High School: 94.7%
• Jacobson Technical High School: 100%
  
• Lakewood High School: 95.5%
• Largo High School: 96.5%
  
• Northeast High School: 98.1%
  
• Osceola Fundamental High School: 99.7%
  
• Palm Harbor University High School: 99.5%
  
• Pinellas Park High School: 97.9%
  
• Seminole High School: 99%
  
• St. Petersburg High School: 99%
  
• Tarpon Springs High School: 97.7%