Missing two
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on June 9, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jordan Price, center, signs the program of a classmate after commencement exercises for Rosewood High School Wednesday night on Branch Pope Field at the school. Price has plans to attend East Carolina University to study exercise physiology.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
The Rosewood High School class of 2016 walks along a fence of family and friends cheering for them after they turned their tassels Wednesday night on the football field.
Rosewood High School graduated 130 students at its Wednesday night commencement ceremony, but two students -- Spenser Garrison and Malia Porter -- were absent.
The two students, lost in a tragic double suicide in January 2014, would have graduated Wednesday night.
Both the salutatorian and valedictorian dedicated time during their speeches to recognize the loss felt by the class and the entire community at the commencement.
"If Spenser and Malia's tragedy has shown us anything, it is that each person's life, regardless of any factor, matters," said salutatorian Dylan Melgar.
"This community was torn apart by their passing, so much so that we still feel the effects today. Each of you has that same impact on the people around you. Don't waste this life that you have been given. Cherish it and do something with it. Let's go out and, instead of complaining about the way the world is, let's change it for the better."
Garrison's grandparents were present during the ceremony. While families around them cheered for their graduates, honked air horns and whistled, they sat on the ground on the bottom walkway of bleachers and watched the events unfold.
They were wearing purple shirts, adorned with the number 90 on the back -- a number Garrison wore when he played football.
"I could only think about how he wasn't here with us, and that there were some rotten people that didn't want him recognized," said Garrison's grandmother, Glendora Haake.
But Garrison and Ms. Porter were both recognized -- not only in speeches, but in a moment of silence before the ceremony began.
"I wasn't thinking about those people (who didn't want him recognized)," said Garrison's grandfather, Michael Haake.
And if Garrison would have been there Wednesday night, his grandparents, of course, would have congratulated him.
"He was so loved," Mrs. Haake said.
Samantha Creech, the class of 2016's valedictorian, had five lessons she wished to pass on: always be a friend, learn how to forgive, learn from your mistakes, test your own limits and never do anything halfway.
More than 35 percent of Rosewood's 2016 graduating class will go on to pursue a degree at a four-year university. Combined, the class has received more than $1.6 million in financial aid to pursue those degrees.
Rosewood High School principal Karen Rogers told the class to use the memories from their four years in high school -- from the tragic to the terrific -- to effect positive change in their lives and build bright futures.
"You will never know how far you are capable of going or how much potential you have until you are willing to step outside of your comfort zone," Ms. Creech said. "Success is not comfortable -- it is not meant to be, nor will it ever be that way."