On Tuesday June 7th parents and family members walked in to the Show Place Arena and were greeted with a festive array of balloons, celebrating the graduating seniors of McDonough High School.
Salutatorian, Melissa Bortner spoke to the graduates about values. Encouraging them to reach back and connect to basic lessons learned all the way back in Kindergarten, of how to treat others the way you want to be treated, to living your life with quality and humility, in order to create a better world. Bortner told her fellow graduates to, “Take simple ideas and create progress.”
The graduates pondered these suggestions through bursts of cheers and shouts. The audience was then treated to “The Prayer” by David Foster and Carol Bayer Sager, a duet performed by graduating vocalists Robert and Ryan Harris. During the duet, Skyler Stewart danced beautifully through the crowd bringing the lyrics to life with her movements. McDonough High School’s 323 graduates were mesmerized by the performance and fell silent throughout the piece.
Valedictorian Shaun Gardiner talked to his fellow graduates, recipients of nearly seven million dollars of scholarship offers, about perseverance. Gardiner said, “We are receiving the independence we have been seeking for years. It’s not who is going to let me, but who is going to stop me.”
The many achievements acknowledged at graduation will propel graduates closer to their various goals. Gardiner encouraged them to not be afraid, “Everything is separated into hellos and goodbyes. Come to cherish moments and don’t rely too heavily on goodbyes because there is a whole world of hellos. Hello to college, hello to work, hello to military service. Hello world, here I am.”
Gardiner’s words were greeted by cheers from the graduates and the piercing sound of foghorns from the audience. As the graduates filtered out the arena, Terrance Queen anxiously waited to see his daughter, Trisha Washington. “I loved the ceremony. Trisha is going on to college to study Culinary Arts. She wants to be
