By Caitlin Boron
Airport High School graduates almost had a somewhat unwelcome guest to its recent Class of 2021 commencement ceremony.
Mere minutes before the Friday night graduation was scheduled to begin, shrieking erupted near the football stadium, according to Jan Linenfelser, an AHS aide. Then she spotted a slithering reptile.
Officials radioed Monroe County Sheriff s Deputy Ryan Sottile, the district s liaison officer, but his assistance wasn t needed once Linenfelser, a snake aficionado, bravely captured the scaly intruder. I was working our graduation ceremony and heard screams, Linenfelser recalled. (The snake was) a threatened species, so I picked her up and took her home.