Gators graduate with cheers, tears
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on June 13, 2010 1:50 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Melanique DeVeaux's senior project was a film starring her friend, Dontay Boseman, a step toward her dream of someday becoming a filmmaker.
Miss DeVeaux was one of 133 graduates in the Saturday commencement ceremony for Spring Creek High School, which was held at Mount Olive College.
Miss DeVeaux and Boseman have been friends in school, prompting Boseman's starring role in her senior project film.
The aspiring filmmaker plans an undergraduate course of study at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she plans a major in communications.
Movie debut aside, Boseman hopes to go to Campbell University to pursue a career in pharmaceutical technology -- and to play for the school's baseball team.
"The reason I'm interested in pharmacy is that they're developing new things every year, new things that can help people, and that's what I like to do, I like to help people," Boseman said.
Hannah Singleton, who like Miss DeVeaux was an honors graduate -- Boseman was named an N.C. Academic Scholar -- said she plans on pursuing a career as an English teacher.
Her original goals were aimed toward agriculture education at the beginning of her senior year, but some of the technical requirements -- things like biological science -- turned her focus elsewhere.
"I've always known that I wanted to teach," Miss Singleton said. "I like to learn, so I wanted to help other people learn too, and I just have a passion for reading and English," she said.
Miss Singleton said the graduation was bittersweet, and she cried a little less about it than she thought she would.
"Well, of the people that I'm graduating with, I've known most of them since we've been in kindergarten," she said. "It's going to be really sad ... (but) I only cried once, through our whole ceremony, during our senior class song. I thought I was going to cry a whole lot more than that."
Lady Salinas, 18, of Goldsboro, said she plans on pursuing a career as a nurse.
Her 9-month-old son has her focusing on a specific part of medicine, she said.
"I want to specialize in labor and delivery," she said. "I really enjoyed having the nurse that I did attend to me. She was very nice, she was very caring. I want to help other women who deliver feel comfortable, and try to identify with them so they can feel secure."
Salutatorian Neal O'Hara quoted Theodore Geisel -- also known as Dr. Seuss.
"You have brains in your head / You have feet in your shoes / You can steer yourself in any direction you choose / You're on your own / And you know what you know / You are the guy who'll decide where to go," O'Hara recited.
Spring Creek valedictorian Elizabeth Price quoted columnist William Arthur Ward's famous "if you can dream it" maxim, with an inspirational twist of her own.
"We must have the courage to step up and say, 'That's what I want, so I'm going for it, no matter how hard it may be. ... Step out into this world with the courage to overcome what seems impossible and never give in to the challenges that life throws at you," she said. "Let nothing stand in the way of achieving your dreams and accomplishing many more milestones in life."