A high school experience that began with fears ended with cheers last weekend as more than 1,500 Pitt County Schools seniors graduated in ECU’s Minges Coliseum. The Class of 2024 included hundreds of graduates from high schools that serve Ayden, Farmville, Grifton and Winterville.
The events started Friday afternoon with D.H. Conley and J.H. Rose high schools, which largely serve the Greenville area south to Chicod. Ceremonies on Saturday with South Central, Ayden-Grifton and Farmville Central, along with North Pitt, sent off a group who entered high school from behind computer screens during pandemic shutdowns into the wide open possibilities of their next chapter.
They began with the ceremony for South Central High School, whose Class of 2024 included 388 students, the largest graduating class in the county.
“Just to remind you, we are not the largest school in Pitt County; however, we are the largest graduating class in Pitt County today,” Principal Chena Cayton told seniors. “I’m proud and pleased and want to congratulate you for rising to the challenge today.”
Stihr Mitra, one of 78 honors graduates in the class, challenged his fellow students to strive for greatness.
“The abundance and quality of talent in this graduating class is enough to move mountains, enough to punch the sky, and enough to change the world,” he said. “So that is what I charge you with. I charge you to walk through your story no matter who tries to stop you. I charge you to excel, to be a great person in whatever you do. I charge you to change the world.”
Senior Madison Fleming-Buyalos reflected on beginning high school during the pandemic, calling it “the weirdest freshman year ever.”
“When faced with challenges and adversities, we ultimately have two choices: We can give up or keep going,” said Fleming-Buyalos, who is a cancer survivor. “We’re the only ones who can make this decision. The choice is ours.”
Salutatorian Haley Paramour said the community that has been built at South Central is a special one. But she said the most important thing she learned in high school was a lesson about faith.
“Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have hope, peace, joy and comfort,” said Paramore, whose comments were punctuated by applause. She shared a quote from Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you. says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
“I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store,” said Paramore, who plans to attend Wingate University, where she will be a member of the golf team.
Valedictorian Valery Rivera began her speech by inviting classmates to participate in a game of “Never Have I Ever” that included different scenarios of things that many had done, such as being late to class.
“I moved to this country four years ago,” said Rivera, who plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall. “And I can assure you that never did I ever imagine I would be here today, giving a speech.
“Take it from me, someone has gone from one world to another,” she said. “You’ll not always know where you’re going. What you know is who you are, where you came from and what you wish to accomplish. I encourage you to take advantage of everything that comes your way, even things you can never, ever imagine yourself doing.”
Rivera thanked her family, addressing members in Spanish and in sign language, in addition to English.
“Thanks to my amazing family who left their whole life behind to give me a better one,” she said. “Without them I would absolutely not be here today.”
Ayden-Grifton
Gratitude and resilience emerged as themes of Ayden-Grifton High School’s 53rd annual commencement exercises. Pitt County Schools’ smallest high school graduated a class of 165, including 37 honors graduates.
Student Council president Avery Tittle thanked families, administrators, faculty and staff for their role in the success of the Class of 2024.
“We could not have done this alone,” she said. “We would not be here today as high school graduates without the people who have pushed us, inspired us, motivated us and supported us on this journey. Our resilience will shine through in even more extraordinary ways in the next chapter of our lives.”
Salutatorian Jonathan DeLuna said the COVID-19 pandemic, which began when students were in eighth grade, left them feeling like they were blindly navigating their freshmen year.
“This was very frustrating for all of us and made it hard to understand what our actual goal was during high school,” he said.
But DeLuna, who plans to attend Hampden Sydney College in the fall, said graduates should not let the struggles they faced along the way define them.
“If you keep yourself caught up in the past you’ll never be able to move forward in the future,” he said, recalling wisdom from his great-grandmother. “No matter what has happened these past four years of high school, good or bad, don’t let it define who you are. Don’t let it be the reason you find yourself five years down the road stuck in your past instead of the possibilities.”
Valedictorian Haley Pasour also spoke of the effects of the pandemic on the first year of high school, saying that many of the teens’ rites of passage were delayed until sophomore year. She also likened the high school journey to the animated PBS series “The Magic School Bus.”
“We were guided by amazing teachers, administrators, coaches, mentors and, most importantly, family and friends,” she said. “They were our Ms. Frizzle, pushing us out of our comfort zone to help us learn and grow into not only better students but even greater human beings, ready to take on the world as adults.”
Pasour, who plans to attend Guilford College in the fall as an elementary education major, also referenced another children’s cartoon character, Winnie the Pooh.
“He states, ‘How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard,’” she said. “Thank you all for making this goodbye a hard one.”
Farmville Central
At Farmville Central’s graduation, the final ceremony of the season for Pitt County Schools, graduates were reminded to pursue their own paths in life.
“High school has been full of comparison, countless awards, scholarship earnings, class rankings, popularity. The list is really never ending,” said Salutatorian Laycie Eastwood, who plans to attend Meredith College, where she will play softball.
“No matter how hard we work, we can never be the best version of someone else because that’s not our purpose on this earth,” she said. “We’re not going to look the exact same. We’re not going to have the exact same skills. We’re not going to follow the exact same paths, and that’s more than OK. Our purpose is to unapologetically live as the best version of our own selves.”
Farmville Central’s Class of 2024 included 183 graduates, 30 of them honors graduates, with Summer Howell and Haleigh Long tied for the valedictorian spot.
Howell, who plans to attend Pitt Community College to pursue dental assisting, said that high school has provided a chance for students to be teammates, face academic challenges and establish unique paths.
“I believe that God has a plan and purpose for each and every one of us,” she said. “We are each uniquely designed in his image, equipped with different qualities to share with the world. I encourage everyone to embrace these qualities to find success and fulfillment.”
Long plans to pursue engineering at ECU, where she has been selected as a Brinkley-Lane Scholar. She advised her fellow graduates to examine who they are becoming, to ask themselves why and to embrace the uncomfortable.
“I think most of us all strive to attain a tough mentality, but toughness is not created in a comfortable environment,” she said. “You have to get used to getting out of your comfort zone.”
Graduate Savannnah McArthur Whaley, who offered the farewell address, told graduates’ families, “The Class of 2024 didn’t just graduate for ourselves but also for y’all,” a remark that was met with applause.
“It has been a whirlwind of emotions to say the least,” she said. “We’ve spent so much time dreaming about the future, but now that it’s here, it’s a mixture of excitement and sadness. … Let’s not think about this as the end but instead think about it as just the beginning.”
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