Westwood graduates 21 in Class of ‘16
Social media takes the stage at graduation ceremony
By Jim Hendricks
CAMILLA — Social media made its way onto the stage Friday night as the 21 students who were about to be awarded their diplomas from Westwood Schools gathered behind valedictorian Micah Kent, who had paused her speech at the ceremony to call her classmates from their chairs, for a Class of 2016 selfie.
Kent used characters from the animated film “Finding Nemo,” which came out the year they started first grade, to illustrate her points of achieving goals, putting others first, pursuing successful futures and bravery in facing the unknown of future endeavors.
“Choose your character,” she said, “and you’ll eventually find your way to your future.”
She told her fellow graduates in the school’s 44th class that the next step will be challenging. After reading from Jeremiah, she said, “Each of us is going away from people we have known. It is going to be hard and bittersweet, but if we trust in God, we can and will conquer what we want to achieve.”
A few seconds later, she paused her speech, calling her classmates up for the selfie to the laughter and applause of parents and friends attending the ceremony at First Baptist Church of Camilla.
She concluded by thanking the teachers, staff and coaches at Westwood for preparing the class for its next step in life.
She was preceded by salutatorian Dru Ford, who assigned each of his classmates a body part in illustrating how the individuals had contributed to the strength and completeness of the class as a whole.
“Through our times of learning and growing together as a class, we’ve grown into one person,” Ford said. “We’re individuals, but together we’re one body and one person. … All of our experiences have molded us into one whole and strong person.”
Westwood Schools Headmaster Ross Worsham said he was proud of the class, a third of which began at the school in kindergarten. The class had eight honor graduates, and 16 of the 21 qualified for HOPE scholarships.
“We feel like they’re very prepared, ready to take the next step in college,” Worsham said. “We feel like they’ll do very good there because of the Westwood education they’ve received. We’re very proud of this senior bunch, and we’re very proud of the parents as well.”
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