Seahawks urged ‘to live fully in the now’
With 74 members of the Class of 2025, one of the largest on record, and 29 of them having attended their entire school careers on the consolidated campus in Eastpoint, Franklin County High School celebrated a spirited graduation on May 29.
With the gymnasium at standing room only capacity, the processional of faculty and staff, followed by that of the graduates, threaded through a narrow aisle to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance.
After greetings from Class President Madison Millender, and the presenting of the colors by the Cadet Core, the audience rose to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem, led by the Class Vice-President Micahlyn Jade O’Neal and Class Secretary Gracyn Brooke Paul.
Class Treasurer Maleah A’Mya Bell offered the invocation and then it was time for a surprise, as Leigh Smith, the district’s Teacher of the Year and member of the graduation committee presented long time teacher and coach Mike Todd with a necktie made of scenes from his career, on the occasion of his retirement after three decades of service.
Principal Danielle Rosson, and Melanie Copeland, the school’s guidance counselor, then presented honors both to Salutatorian Dexton Lee Teat and to Mya Bennett Huckeba, the school’s valedictorian.
Huckeba follows as the third member of her family to be valedictorian, echoing the achievement of older brother Mikalin, in 2019, and Brycin, in 2021.
It was then time for Teat to offer a plea for his classmates to live each moment to its fullest.
“We have seen how we tend to miss the beauty of a moment until it’s behind us, so let’s learn to love the moment now. So pause. Breathe. Look around you,” he said. “This moment, this one, is already becoming a memory. That is what makes it sacred. The moment is all we will ever have, so take hold of it!
“Don’t make the future you wish you really lived while you were here. Seize the day – for tomorrow never really comes,” Teat said. “Class of 2025: Learn from the past. Hope for the future. But above all, live fully in the now. You won’t pass this way again.”
The traditional tribute to parents then drew hugs and tears from those lucky moms and dad and relatives who received a pink peony, the class flower, from their graduate.
Huckeba then presented the valedictorian address, in which she encouraged her classmates “to reach for the stars.” Drawing on the movie Interstellar, she spoke of its theme in which a famine-stricken Earth draws on a subset of dreamers who have faith in the future of humanity.
“Had these ‘believers in humanity’ never reached beyond the stars in hopes of a better future, life would have ended. With this notion in mind, the time to grasp hold of your future is now,” she said. “To travel among the stars, in reach of a better tomorrow, you must wholeheartedly devote yourself to the task at hand. To ensure success is to not rely on others to do the hard work, but to put the effort in yourself.
“None of us can go back and change the past, nor can we touch our future. The only way to meaningfully alter the outcome of our lives is to use the present time with purpose,” Huckeba said.
Class Historian Jadelyn Frances Lively introduced a slideshow of the class, featuring photos of their childhood, also a Franklin County tradition.
Superintendent Stetev Lanier, School Board Chairman Stacy Kirvin, Class Sponsors Nicole McNair and Ashley Millender, and Rosson then each had a role in presenting the diplomas and turning the tassels.
In addition to Huckeba, Teat, Livel and O’Neal, graduating summa cum laude were Hunter Scott Ard, Jasmine Brooke Gray, Sarah Marie Ham,Jaden Thomas Hatfield, Charity Nichole Larkin, Desiree Autumn Messer, Garyson Augustus Millender, Isabella Noel Nations, Sharon Alexis Nordbrok, Savannah Faith Odom, Bradley Weston Page and Krista Lizzeth Varnes.
Graduating magna cum laude were Bell, Dylan Gage Glass, Khali Brielle McNair, Madison Rylie Millender, Olivia Kate Poloronis, and Josie Suezanne Smith.
Graduating cum laude were Conner Reed Lolley, Josiah Walter Friddle, Jenise Michelle Loos, Benjamin Ray Sanders and Jonathon Jared Scheetz.
Rounding out the class were Kelin Roxana Almendares Lopez, Khambrel Don Kaiden Anthony, Lucy Elizabeth Babbey, Devin Lee Barber, Jr., Dalton Kale Barrack, Sy Dozier Bartlett, Chelsey Lynn Braswell, Alonna Nicole Brown, Preston Bailey Butler, Ta’Marion Ja’Cory Carr, Melena Fay Castellano, Brett James Charles, Dustin Caleb Curry, Christian Thomas Daughtry, Raegan McKenvie Dempsey, Dominic Wayne Durbin, Josh Nathan Dykes, Dillon Wayne Evans, Breahna Lashai Fleming, Zuri Richelle Garner, Jayden Raine Gray, Gregreyuna Shekinah Aleece Griffin, Aubrey Cadence Hamm, Micah Paul Harris, Micheal William Hill, Jerzy Brakay Jackson, Sheldon Gayberial James, Preston Matthew Klaus, Emeril Luis Lebron, Kaiden Orion Lewis, Daniel Westbrook Lively, Adriana Patricia Manuel Andres, Clayton Mitchell Martina, Jordan Dewayne Comb McCormack, Ajaylen Keionte McNair, Kaylyn Jordan Danyall McNair, Shakira Aniya Miller, Cooper Aaron Myers, Rosa Isabel Pascual-Juan, Gracyn Brooke Paul, Marquis Orlando Penamon, Ashlynn Michele Raffield, Christopher Lee Russell, Jr., Shianne Elane Shaw, Promise A’mya Suddeth, and Zachary Maxwell Thompson.
The singing of the Alma Mater, and the tossing of the mortar boards in the air completed the ceremony.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.