On Friday night, 490 students from Habersham Central High School and the Success Academy walked across the stage on John Larry Black Field to receive their diplomas. A stadium full of family and friends cheered them on.
It was a pleasant evening for an outdoor ceremony, one of many that took place across Northeast Georgia on May 26.
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‘You are blessed’
This year’s featured guest speaker was Air Force Lt. Col. Preston McConnell. Hours before graduation, Habersham Central High School administrators presented him with the school’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
McConnell graduated from Central in 1991. Since then, he’s traveled the world with the military. “You are blessed,” he told the graduates.
“The mere fact that you live in this country and that you are graduating from high school is a blessing,” he said. “We have more freedom and opportunity in this country than in any other.”
The seasoned veteran encouraged the graduates to make the most of those opportunities.
“Don’t be afraid to do hard things. Don’t select a path just because it’s easy. The paths that are hard are the most rewarding and often the most right,” he said.
McConnell recounted an experience early in his career. Faced with a choice to pursue a research opportunity near home or to attend flight training, he sought advice from a mentor.
“‘Preston,’ he told me, ‘you can always do some research, but if you don’t do this flight training, you will never be able to fly,” the aviator said.
Today, McConnell is considered a legend in the A-10 Air Force community.
Building on that experience, he offered this advice to the graduates: “Surround yourself with wise people who truly care about you,” and “Don’t burn a bridge before you have to.” He quoted Colossians 3:23 in the Bible, encouraging the graduates to “be the best at whatever you choose to do.”
“Strive for excellence. This country needs you to be excellent,” he said.
The next generation
McConnell said people frequently ask him, ‘What’s the biggest threat facing the United States?’ His response: “The next generation.”
“Great societies like our country don’t get taken over – they get lazy. They get complacent. They don’t stand up for what is right, and they allow themselves to be taken over. They implode from within. You can look at all the great societies,” he said, “it’s the same answer.”
McConnell then softened his remarks by adding, “The next generation is also our greatest hope.”
“So, as you graduate tonight and move on to the next stage of life, what are you going to do? What are you going to choose? Are you going to be our greatest threat, or are you going to be our greatest hope?”
“We need you to be our greatest hope.”
Setting ladders
Class officers Haley Vieira (president), Ava Brookshire (vice president), Angel Martinez (treasurer), Morgan Pitts (secretary), and McKenzie Chitwood (public relations) each had an opportunity to speak during the two-hour-long ceremony. They briefly reminisced about their high school years and spoke of their hopes for the future.
The closing speeches belonged to the STAR Student and valedictorian.
STAR Student Hayden Hulsey spoke metaphorically when he said, “Before we can start moving up the ladder, we have to decide where to set each of our ladders; this determines where we will end up as we near the top, so we need to make sure that it is somewhere that we want it to be.”
“It can be very difficult and even scary to try and determine where you want to end up in life,” Hulsey said, “but this is the most important step we can take as we set off into the next phases of our life after tonight.”
Embracing the challenge
Habersham Central High School Valedictorian Emily Irvin drew on history to encourage her classmates to accept the challenges that lie ahead. She quoted President John F. Kennedy from his “We Choose the Moon” speech delivered at Rice University in 1962.
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” – President John F. Kennedy, Sept. 12, 1962
“We are all about to embark on different paths with different goals with different definitions of success,” Irvin said. “Some of us are going to attempt to gain a higher education, some are going straight into the workforce, and some, into the military. I know all of these are great paths where we will each contribute something to society, but no matter what path you are taking, when presented with the option of doing something easy and doing something challenging, challenge yourself.”
She concluded her speech by saying, “You can always grow, always gain more knowledge, and always contribute more.”
Irvin left the stage with a shout-out to her new school, Georgia Tech’s mascot, the Yellow Jackets.
Following the speeches, Habersham School administrators handed out the diplomas. Then, with sound horns blaring, HCHS Principal Jonathan Stribling made one final announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Habersham Central Class of 2023.”
