“Don’t let your life story fill automatically” – Daily Press

Cheers erupted as students in purple and gold marched to William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena Friday for Lafayette High School’s graduation ceremony.

Following the procession and traditional strains of “Pomp and Circumstance,” Principal Paul A. Rice welcomed guests and the 292 graduating seniors.

“You have worked hard to achieve great things while in high school,” Rice said, also thanking parents and family for their “partnership” and “support” of the graduates.

Thirty students from the graduating class received a total of more than $2.5 million in scholarships this year.

Rice recognized two students for completing WJCC’s Honors Program, which requires completion of Advanced Placement courses, a community service project and an honors project.

As president of Model UN, Emily Arden Reynolds founded the region’s first high school UN conference. Reynolds will attend William & Mary to earn a degree in government.

Honors recipient and class president David Christian Schniepp combined his passion for STEM and filmmaking to produce a stop-motion documentary about brown recluse spiders. Schniepp will continue his studies in engineering at the University of Virginia.

Rice also recognized Gabriel Rosen-Turits as valedictorian with a 4.5 grade point average and Braden Lee as salutatorian with a 4.394 grade point average.

Student speaker Nina Laura Gokita remembers moving from Japan with her mother and brother after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. She was homesick and missed her father, but she was welcomed into the community “with arms length.” open”.

“Some of you may be the first in your family to graduate from high school or even go to college…but that’s what makes our school, our school,” Gokita said, emphasizing Lafayette’s cultural and historical diversity.

Moving on to a new chapter is daunting, she continued, encouraging her fellow graduates to “dream big.”

“Keep these dreams dear to your heart and strive to achieve them,” Gokita said.

Regardless of what lies ahead — college, a gap year, entering the workforce — you have a purpose, first-year student speaker JaZiyah McKenzie Davis told her peers.

“There’s no life better than yours,” Davis continued, quoting singer J. Cole’s “Love Yourz.”

Joking that he has yet to write a memorable graduation speech, Rice said he turned to ChatGPT for inspiration, sharing the beginning of a graduation speech diplomas with the voices of wrestler Ric Flair and Yoda.

“You will face challenges, fear leads to the dark side,” he said, drawing laughter from graduates and their families.

Lafayette is one of the best high schools in Virginia because of its students, Rice said, before sharing some life lessons with the Class of 2024.

Rice encouraged Lafayette students to take responsibility in everything they do, sharing his favorite quote: “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” » He also reminded them to work hard, but take care of themselves.

“You have to be the one who writes the story of your life,” Rice said, advising the graduating class not to let others control who they are. “Don’t let your life story fill in automatically.”

Evelyn Davidson, [email protected]