Class of 2021 to define their legacy

The gymnasium was filled to the rafters Friday evening, but it wasn’t to cheer on an athletic contest. 

Rather, it was a pep rally for dedicated pupils, a spirit gathering for scholarship, as 62 members of the Class of 2021 strode across the stage to receive their diplomas from Franklin County High School.

“The real question is, how do you want to be remembered?” asked Brycin Huckeba in his valedictory address. “Do you want people to look back on us, glad that we are leaving because of how much of a nuisance, annoyance or mean person we were?

“Or  do we want to be seen as a joy to be around that brightened someone’s life? ” he asked. “Life is a collection of moments, which happen, and then are instantly gone, forever gone, that cannot be lived again.

“There is a moment in your life where you’ve made individual impacts on different people,” Huckeba said. “Every person you’ve met has a different version of you in their memory than you think you are. That one time you yelled in a restaurant? Or skipped a line? Or threw trash on the ground, or got caught in a lie? 

“Your legacy isn’t defined by you, yet the memory of you in individuals you’ve impacted throughout your life lives on here on earth,” he said.

Huckeba, who is headed to Florida State, veered slightly from his prepared remarks to pay tribute to his grandmother, Shirley Crum, with whom he had talked recently about the different cycles her life has gone through, from education to marriage to working in the seafood industry to raising children. 

Crum was just one of several hundred parents, grandparents and family members who filled the gym.

At the opening of the ceremonies, Franklin County Schools Principal Laurence Pender had asked all these parents to stand, as well as teachers and other individuals who have had an impact on these students’ lives.

Greetings from Class President Jadyn Luberto, and the Pledge of Allegiance from Vice President Marci Kelly,  were followed by the National Anthem, accompanied by a lone trumpet played by Shawn Bentz, the director of the small high school band that played at several times during the evening.

Leslie Escobar gave the invocation. “Bless their lives from this day on with goodness and love,” she said. “Help them to stay true to their dreams, to use their gifts wisely, and to walk into the future without fear.”

On a giant overhead screen, the audience then watched a presentation of the faces of each graduate, and a photo or two from their childhoods,

Following the flower ceremony, where graduates-to-be fanned out to hand their loved ones red roses, Pender and Superintendent Steve Lanier  then handed out the diplomas, with the audience learning each of the students’ parents’ names and what the student plans to do next year.

Huckeba and salutatorian Tate  Stanley were joined by  Calea Dively, Martina Granger, Ragan Helmlinger, Luberto, Jana Strunk, and Abigail  Johnson as graduates with highest honors.

Receiving High Honors were Layla  Chisholm, Dylan  Love and Makayla  Varner. Earning Honors were Alexis Britcher, Andrea Cooper, Katelyn Cox, Emma Crum, Devin Daniels, Escobar, Kristin Estes, Kelley, Elizabeth McAnally, Sean  Nolen, Rebecca  Shiver, Sydney Shuman, and Charlee Winchester.

Rounding out the class were Aaliyah Abbott, Kiani Allen, Tyler Anderson, Rileigh Boatwright, Eden  Brathwaite, Cody  Cassidy, Qua’Nieria Croom, Kiera  Daniel, Olivia Dutrow, Caden  Evans, Camron Evans, Ryan Granger, Eulalia Gregorio, Kelsey Griffin, Trederrion Jones, Cailin  Kuhner, Samantha Latorre, Freeda Lawson, Brayden Christopher Lloyd, Stephen  Malone Jr., Lamarius  Martin, Fred Anthony Millender II,  Landen Millender, Patricia Obezo, Jennifer Owens, Grace  Patterson, Destanie Proctor, Holly  Ray, Clinton Rester, Sarah Segree, Ashton Shaw, Breauna  Shiver, Gracie Smith, Kelson Smith, Michael  Square, Hannah Turner, and Jarvis  Turrell.

At the end of the well-choreographed commencement exercises, the audience remained in their seats during the recessional. The graduates then returned to the front, and surrounding Pender, they  tossed their caps in the air in unison, the end of their years together and the beginning of their lives apart.