Wayne School of Engineering graduates 77
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on May 24, 2015 1:50 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Cymberlin Sasser sings a powerful rendition of the National Anthem at the Wayne School of Engineering graduation on Friday evening.
Wayne School of Engineering graduated 77 students Friday evening, among whom were the first two graduates in the history of the school to obtain both a four-year high school diploma and a two-year associate degree.
The two students -- Grayson Collins and Madison Huf -- joined 15 other fifth-year seniors in receiving associate's degrees on Friday evening in the Goldsboro High School auditorium as the school recognized a graduating class that was seven students larger than last year.
Fifth-year seniors are those who stayed at Wayne School of Engineering for one extra year to obtain a two-year associate degree in addition to their high school diploma.
Science teacher Austin Kestler said he shares a very special connection with the Class of 2015 -- they have been in it together since the beginning, he said.
Kestler also began his career at the high school four years ago, accepting his first-ever teaching job fresh out of college.
"Four years ago we walked into that school with very strong emotions -- fear, 'What is high school; what is this place; what will I learn,'" Kestler said.
Kestler spoke in front of the packed auditorium Friday evening, and took the moment to thank his graduating seniors for allowing him to be a part of their lives for the past four years.
"I watched you grow up from rambunctious freshmen in Applications of Science to seniors sitting before me today, ready for what awaits you out there," he said.
Graduating senior Zach Darden broke his high school experience into chunks, saying freshman year was a puzzle, his sophomore year was a blur, junior year was filled with responsibilities and then senior year became the great equalizer.
Darden said he felt like graduation would never get here.
"You thought junior year that if you played it out just right that this year might be easier," Darden said. "This year there was more responsibility than ever before, between tests and college applications, and you're still taking classes that you have to pass."
For graduating senior Cameron Saunders, his evolution into someone who paid attention in class and graduated with honors Friday night was a slow one.
He said middle school was painstaking for him, and that he felt he could learn more outside of the classroom.
But after his first high school class at Wayne School of Engineering, that all changed, Saunders said.
"There's a quote by Mark Twain, and he said 'Never let school interfere with your education,'" he said. "And so I really took that to heart when I first read it because it's so true. School wasn't giving me anything, school was just giving me something to do with my time. But when I got to high school, it became a lot more apparent to me that the things I was learning were not useless or irrelevant or boring. When I was in ninth grade I had Applications of Science with Mr. Kestler. I really feel like it was that class that started my educational transformation. It was that class that taught me things aren't useless and you can really apply what you learn in the real world."
Friday night's final speaker, graduating senior Shatonya Johnson, urged her classmates to remember all the supporters they had along the way.
She said that without parents encouraging students to keep plugging along, guidance counselors to instruct students on their courses and faculty who were more than willing to help students, none of the graduating seniors Friday evening might have made it there without support.
"Behind each graduate stands dozens of supporters who have helped in supporting each of us in dozens of ways," Ms. Johnson said.