As evening approached on Tuesday, June 7th, parents and loved ones parked and rushed toward the North Point High School commencement ceremony. It was a day of excitement and celebration, as many parents anxiously anticipated seeing their child walk across the stage to receive their diploma.
The North Point graduation was the only Charles County high school graduation to take place in Charles County rather than the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. While the graduation tickets clearly stated admission to the convocation center was not guaranteed, many were surprised being forced to watch their children graduate on a screen in the North Point cafeteria due to space constrains.
Parents and family members made the best out of the situation by clapping, cheering, whistling and taking pictures as their loved ones walked across the stage as they viewed it from a screen.
The senior class president, Kayci Kirkham, read the class motto “Take pride in how far you have come, have faith in how far you can go” and encouraged the graduates to live life with a passion and create their own vibrant future.
This was the last of the original group at North Point, which opened in 2005. The Valedictorians were Erin Chapman and Nicholas Teleky who tied for first place and have been dating for two years. Chapman is going to Georgetown University and Teleky is going to Tufts University. The Valedictorians played off of each other in a dual speech the audience loved.
The witty speech touched on many of the quirky North Point High School “-isms”. Teleky said, “When I first came to North Point, I walked around for 20 minutes trying to find the convocation center, only to realize it was actually the gym.” Teleky discussed the practice of calling trailers, modular units, which caused a knowing laughter from the graduates.
Chapman and Teleky discussed the North Point mascot, an eagle and the process of an eagle learning to fly. Chapman said “The mother eagle pushes the baby out the nest and they open t
