2018 graduations commence
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on May 26, 2018 8:15 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Graduates wave to their friends and family after receiving their diplomas from Goldsboro High School Friday night.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A senior dances his way up the stairs to walk across the stage to receive his diploma Friday night during graduation at Goldsboro High School.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A senior smiles as he receives his diploma from principal Marcia Manning Friday night during graduation at Goldsboro High School.
A bit of rainy weather and humidity couldn't wash away the Cougar pride Friday, as Goldsboro High School bid farewell to 128 students during its annual graduation ceremony.
The ceremony started at 6 p.m., but the hours leading up to it were full of dark skies and falling rain. As the graduation drew closer, the clouds dispersed, and by the time the graduates were ready to head outside to the school's football field, the weather had cleared up completely. The bleachers were wet and the air was humid, but all that mattered was that the show went on.
Standing inside before the ceremony, several soon-to-be graduates offered their thoughts on the future. Some were happy and excited, others nervous. Most were a mixture of the two -- and just about everyone was ready to get it done with it and move on to whatever came next.
Ahmad Barnes stood with some friends near the front of the line. He had been looking forward to graduating, and was really to get on with it.
"I'm excited, I'm just ready to get out, I'm ready to live life," he said. "Hopefully I'll be going to the Marines. Most of my family went in the military, so I guess I'm kind of following behind my legacy."
Barnes said that, once he leaves the Marines, he hopes to own a restaurant where he can put his love of cooking to use.
Barnes was not the only one with plans to go into the culinary arts. New York native Talea Stokes said she was nervous for graduation, but excited to head back to her home state to go to community college for her business degree.
"North Carolina, I've been here for like, maybe 13 years," she said. "I'm excited to go back to New York, I go back every summer."
Soon, the graduates made their way onto the football field for the ceremony, which features several speakers including Salutatorian Kadijah Pearsall and Valedictorian DorMiya Vance.
Vance recounted the four years of hard work put in by the graduates in order earn the right to sit where they were sitting. She lamented the struggles of junior year, which she said was the most stressful year of them all, but recalled some of the wisdom that got her through it.
"I know many of you were ready to call it quits and thrown in the towel, and for a minute so was I, but then again I was reminded of something my mom and parents told me," she said. "Diamonds are formed under pressure, but never overnight."
Vance recalled how GHS students took part in a student-led walkout to protest gun violence earlier this year, an event which she said brought the school closer together.
Looking forward, she encouraged her fellow students to seize the moment.
"Today, just know that this is our season, this is our time, and our purpose is from this day forward to continue down the path that God has already predestined for us," she said. "Thank you, congrats and God bless."