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Valedictorian's selfie caps Campbell's commencement for 76 grads
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Soon-to-be graduates of Campbell Memorial High School line the track at Campbell Memorial Stadium before the start of Thursday’s commencement. This year’s graduating class had 76 students.
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By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
Sydney Jones had waited her whole life to give Thursday evening’s speech.
But Jones, valedictorian of Campbell Memorial High School’s Class of 2014, didn’t actually commit to paper the words she’d been thinking about for much of her 18 years until just a few days ago.
They had to be just right.
“I’ve wanted to be valedictorian forever,” Jones said. “And I wanted to have the right words to say to the class before we left.”
So in front of a crowd gathered for the commencement ceremony at Campbell Memorial Stadium, Jones addressed her classmates, decked out in red and black caps and gowns, and expressed her disbelief that this moment could very well be the last they’d all be together.
She doesn’t “really know if there are words for that” feeling.
It was a group that had, for the most part, traveled together through the district’s elementary, middle and high schools, and a group that had shared in the Halloween parades, the awkward phases and, then, what Jones called “the last everything.”
There was the last Friday-night football game. The last homecoming dance. The last, last day of school. The last time “eating those wonderful school lunches.”
“Now, we get our diplomas, take a bunch of pictures, go to a bunch of graduation parties this summer, then go our separate ways,” Jones said, urging the other 75 members of her class to “realize what we have right now.”
She documented the moment by snapping a selfie from the lectern, squeezing into her cellphone’s screen all of the classmates she could.
After the ceremony, Jones said she’d miss the closeness of her school — but that even though this chapter’s ending is scary, it’s also “new and exciting.” She plans to major in criminal justice at Youngstown State University, then become a police officer in New York.
Cecily Kust, another class member, explained that though she’s going to attend the University of Akron and major in radiologic technology this fall, she’ll always remember how she never felt alone during her time at Campbell Memorial. She was constantly supported by staff and friends.
Feeling similarly was Gus Kust, who hasn’t yet finalized his post-graduation plans. It feels good to have finished high school, Kust said, but he’ll carry with him “how great ... everybody was,” especially his parents.
“Now I can move on with my life, and make a career and be successful,” he said.
Joan Galida Fuller, a 1984 Campbell Memorial graduate and the guest speaker, told graduates to expect the unexpected, though, as life after high school has “many twists and turns.” After all, 30 years ago, the position she now holds — she’s director of radiology for Cleveland Clinic — had never even crossed her mind. It’s OK if it takes “a while to find your way.”
And no matter where that path leads, Fuller said, graduates can’t forget their hometown, a place that instilled in them the importance of hard work and honesty.
“Be proud to be from Campbell, Ohio. Be proud to be a graduate of Campbell Memorial High School,” she advised them. “You will always and forever be a Red Devil.”