It was like when everything appears to be going wrong at your daughter’s outdoor wedding, yet somehow, miraculously… at the last moment it turns out to be the best wedding you ever attended. That was Habersham Central High School Graduation 2016!
The ceremony was kicked-off with a moment of reflection that the graduation ceremony would go down in history as the first to occur on a Saturday, and the first to be held on the beautiful new athletic field.
At the scheduled time for graduation 2016, Friday evening, May 20, 35 mph winds blew through Habersham: rain, cold temperatures, winds so gusty even a steadfast valedictorian would have been blown away. But as life sometimes goes, be patient, pray for the best, be willing to be flexible, change when change is needed, and the best will come your way. And one could say, it was a perfect ceremony, for 374 seniors, their family and friends.
Class of 2016 President, John Corbett, captured the audience with a lively, entertaining speech, that couldn’t have been more appropriate if Stephen Colbert had been invited to give the address. Perhaps John’s most thought provoking moment was when he explained that the seniors had spent years in elementary school learning which restroom to use, boys or girls, and now, as seniors, they were not sure which was appropriate, a clever reference to the on-going national hysteria over gender identification and public/school restrooms. Corbett’s speech reminded everyone, even those who may not know him, why he was elected as class president. Bright stuff, including a well-deserved recognition for teacher Krista Ivester who battled cancer while maintaining a day-in, day-out presence in her classroom for her students.
All the presentations and speeches were kept at under 5 minutes which meant the pace of the ceremony was upbeat and full of movement. Valedictorian, Cayla Simmons, perhaps the most humble speaker ever to address a graduation, quoted Garry Trudeau, the Doonesbury cartoonist, and how the cultural humorist feels about graduation ceremonies, “Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.” Ms. Simmons was received warmly by the audience and virtually everyone listened with open hearts to all her comments, something you don’t often see at high school graduation events.
Then came the moment everyone had waited 13 years to see. The spoils of a good education: The Diploma. This ceremony demonstrated EXACTLY how a large pool of seniors should be commenced. The speaker clearly knew every student’s name, and how to pronounce it, no matter the country or culture of origin. She was perfect, and reflected the school’s motto: Excellence in Every Endeavor.
The temperature was perfect, a wonderful relief from what could have ordinarily been a sweaty, late May evening. Calm skies, and only a few drops of wetness fell from the sky, and then, only in the fourth quarter. And as Luis Antonio Covarrubias, the final senior to receive his diploma walked across the stage, and the seniors were pronounced “graduates,” the skies parted and sunshine filled John Larry Black Field at Raider Stadium. And the proof of that will be forever recorded in thousands of photos taken by a multitude of phone-cameras on the bright green Astro-turf, splatted with shadows made possible by brilliant sunlight.
And a grand time was had by all.
