Graduation Day

By Amelia A. Pridemore
Register-Herald Reporter

June 02, 2007 11:24 pm

— On the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center’s lower floor, Liberty High School senior class president Corey Brooks walked to a microphone alone.
As he belted out the slightly modified lyrics to a Taylor Hicks song, Brooks seemingly asked the question on the minds of more than 500 Raleigh County high school seniors who walked across the stage Saturday.
He sang: “This is what we’ve dreamed about. The only question with us now is — do we make you proud? Stronger than we’ve ever been now. Never been afraid of standing out. Do we make you proud?”
That question was seemingly answered throughout the day as graduates’ families and friends cheered and shouted, some even blowing air horns and ringing cowbells. The Classes of 2007 at Independence, Liberty and Woodrow Wilson high schools all crossed the graduation stage at the convention center, heading for the post-high school journey awaiting.
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About 175 Independence High School graduates shone blue lights in the convention center as the lights dimmed for their senior video.
“I would say all of you got up very early for once in your senior year,” said IHS principal Bob Meadows, referring to the morning commencement.
“You are a great class that will make its mark all throughout this great world.”
Salutatorian Satira Tajdin said the graduates could probably remember their parents walking them to preschool. Then their worries were so small.
“The only thing we had to worry about was what game we were going to play at recess,” Tajdin said.
In high school, the students bonded closely in their relatively small school. Everyone knows one another at Independence, and they are all family, she said. While they may have had their labels — quarterback, 4.0 student, Democrat, Republican — they do not matter now.
“We all have one bond — we are all the same,” Tajdin said.
Valedictorian Matthew Goddard told his classmates to not ask themselves whether they regret particular decisions in their lives. If they dwell in the past, their goals will not be accomplished. With technology, everything is possible today, such as a cure for cancer.
“Don’t sit back in life and watch,” he said. “Be a part of life. Strive to be the best you can be.”
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Liberty High School’s approximately 125 graduates were greeted by a boisterous crowd as they marched into the convention center early Saturday afternoon.
Salutatorian Joshua Hodge said four years ago the students were all freshmen, walking through the doors of high school for the first time — nervous and not knowing what to expect. Now, they had reached this moment, with some of them traveling a tough road. Ten, 20 or even 30 years from now, he said, they should always remember that first day — and their final year.
“Always remember our senior year — the last little bit of childhood we ever had,” he said.
“This is it — four years of high school are officially over,” valedictorian Logan Ellis said. “For some of us, this is a bittersweet day of letting go.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ellis said, said everyone must have courage in everything they do. No matter what course people take, there is always someone saying they are wrong. Difficulties arise, tempting people to believe their critics are right. Mapping out a course of action and following it to an end requires the same type of courage a soldier needs.
“My hope is that you will have the courage Emerson spoke of,” Ellis said.
Raleigh County school board member Richard Snuffer encouraged the graduates to make the most of their next journey, now that this one has ended.
“Class of 2007 — this is your time,” he said. “What will you make of it? Only you can answer that.”
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Ilaisaane Carter, Woodrow Wilson High School’s senior class president, told her fellow graduates, totaling about 265, to savor Saturday’s moments — the smells, the sights, the sounds — treasuring them all.
Salutatorian Jourdan Aromin said the students had been under their elders’ guidance for 18 years, and now it was time for them to become adults — in a way. Because most are 18, they are technically and legally adults — able to vote, die for their country and buy lottery tickets. Still, they are on that thin line between youth and maturity.
Aromin encouraged his classmates to “live in the moment” — but to not totally forget the past.
“Obviously, there is proof that we all age. We all age swiftly,” he said. “Time waits for no one.
“This is growing up.”
Valedictorian Lea Bridi said the graduates are almost legal adults, but most still have the safety nets of their families. As young children, they discussed what they would be when they grew up. Now that time has come.
But as they arrive at the “cusp of the future,” Bridi said, they have serious decisions to make. These do not only include financial responsibilities and college. They must decide what they will do to make positive changes with their generation, society, the country and the entire world.
Building on the ceremony’s theme, “The Lyrics of Life,” Bridi called upon the song, “If the Brakeman Turns My Way,” by Indie Rock band Bright Eyes. She said a brakeman works at a train yard, determining the directions of trains. Sometimes, people’s lives are like trains — not completely under their controls.
“I will see you in 10 years — brakeman allowing,” she said.
Assistant schools superintendent Racine Thompson, said there were times to both work and play, sing and pray, be glad and be blue, to plan and do, and to grin and show grief.
“But there never was a time to quit,” he said.
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apridemore@register-herald.com

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