More than 100 Tallahatchie County teens are candidates for diplomas or certificates during graduation ceremonies scheduled this week at the county’s public high schools.
Charleston High School seniors will be the first to receive diplomas during Friday night ceremonies that will begin at 7.
West Tallahatchie High School will launch seniors at commencement exercises scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday.
Strider Academy held senior class graduation last week.
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CHARLESTON festivities will be held in the Morgan Freeman Auditorium on campus.
After a welcome by Principal Ricky Garvin, Tim King will present processional music as cap-and-gown-clad seniors file into the auditorium.
Class members Kamela Smith and Dillon Hughes will offer the invocation.
Seniors Quinton Austin and Gabriel Gayosso will lead the crowd in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Senior Miracle Morgan will introduce members of the East Tallahatchie School District Board of Trustees.
CHS Academic Counselor Kim Haley will present awards and announce scholarships.
Kimberly Kennedy, the daughter of Dr. Ben and Angel Kennedy, will deliver the salutatory address.
Breanna Coates, the daughter of Jennifer Coker and Joel Coates, will give the valedictory address.
Garvin will present the seniors and East Tallahatchie School Superintendent Dr. Ben Kennedy will issue diplomas.
The benediction will be offered by members of the Class of 2017, after which Tim King will provide music for the recessional.
Twenty members of the CHS Class of 2017 are National Honor Society members and 23 are honor graduates.
Charleston honor graduates other than Coates and Kennedy are Reaghan Anderson, Erica Bradford, Corey Crocker, Destini Curtis, Asia Green, Ashlee Hathcock, Anna Hodges, Alexia Holt, Adilyah Hudson, Torry Johnson, Jonathan Jones, Emily Mayeux, Gweneshia Reed, Mikayla Robinson, Cody Smallwood, Jo’Tavious Smith, Demarcus Taylor, Tre’Quaris Truly, Ashley Williams, Raheem Wilson and Tybreayunia Wilson.
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WEST TALLAHATCHIE is set to launch 54 seniors Saturday morning inside the school auditorium in Webb.
Anthony Hawkins will offer words of meditation.
Senior Kenyata Beller will extend the welcome.
Valedictorian, Tayia Hayes of Tutwiler, the daughter of Nichole Harris and Tracey Rosebud, will share some reflections of the West Tally Class of 2017.
Salutatorian, Darius Hawkins of Charleston, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Hawkins, will introduce the guest speaker, Dr. Debra Wheeler Thomas, who will present the commencement address.
Thomas, the valedictorian of the West Tallahatchie High School Class of 1980, is a physical therapist at Utilization Management for NaviHealth Post Acute Care. She has a Bachelor of Arts in biological science from the University of Mississippi, a Bachelor of Science from Florida A&M and a doctorate of physical therapy from Alabama State University. She is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and a volunteer for the American Red Cross of Tupelo.
Principal Robert Skipper will present members of the senior class to Superintendent Christopher Furdge, who will accept the Class of 2017.
The roll call of the senior class will be conducted by senior sponsor, Glenda Gooden, followed by the presentation of diplomas.
In addition to Beller, Hawkins and Hayes, West Tally honor graduates include Moesha Adams, Diamond Anderson, Tyler Berryhill, Janice Citchens, Sandreka Hatten, Nakayla Hawkins, Alicia Hill, Willecia Hilson, Lacedric Hines, Ariel Montgomery, Martika Nix, Elijah Powell, Kayla Reynolds, Kyla Reynolds, Vernika Simmons, Kenterrace Speight, Keaundra Thomas, RyKeischella Thomas, Kimora Tyler and Skyla Watson.
The flower of the West Tally graduating class is the Dahlia Rancho. Class colors are peach, chocolate and gold.
The class motto is, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” The class song is, “I Will Always Remember You,” by Miley Cyrus.
