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Graduates look back as they forge ahead
Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:22 AM EDT
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~ e.e. cummings.
By Jessica Waters
The Toccoa Record
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War; the fall of the Twin Towers and the devastating cost of an ongoing war against terrorism; the class of 2008 has grown up in a time of history-making advances and earth shattering setbacks.
From a Mars landing and the proliferation of the World Wide Web to Mad Cow Disease and rap music, these teens have been a part of the good events and the bad press that will go down in history books as the defining moments marking the close of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st.
They watched the high-speed death of Princess Diana and a slow-speed chase through the streets of L.A. Heading out into a high-tech world of hybrid cars, medical breakthroughs, a global economy and $4-per-gallon gasoline prices, Stephens County High School graduating seniors are counting on the foundation of a solid education to support their futures and give wings to their dreams.
Despite those challenges, however, the Stephens County Class of 2008 is one of the most successful graduating classes in recent years, with a significant percentage of AP students and high gradation test scores.
Here’s a look at five of them and their hopes and aspirations.
DANEA MARTIN
“It’s a challenge to keep a balance between having fun and doing well in your classes,” said Danea Martin.
“Sometimes it is overwhelming, but if you just work your hardest and don’t give yourself excuses, it is also a good lesson in taking responsibility,” she said.
Excited about graduation and enthusiastic about heading off to college, but a little bit sad to be turning the page and saying goodbye to friends and childhood, Martin will be working toward an early childhood education degree.
“When I got to high school, I decided I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I had really great teachers through middle school and high school and it’s just something I always wanted to do.”
The impact of educators on Martin’s young life played a large part in her decision to pursue a teaching career. From elementary school teachers Ms. Jarrett and Ms. Sanders to her high school math teacher Ms. Chambers. Martin credits teachers with guiding her path and encouraging her interest in math.
“I like math and history, and I have to mention coach Frankie Whitworth,” she said. “He is actually my most favorite teacher of all time and a big reason why I am so interested in math.”
Along with teachers, Martin’s family and her faith have played a large part in the success she has experienced throughout her school years.
“My parents were a big influence in my life; they supported everything my brother and I did,” she said.
“Even though I want to be a teacher, I don’t know if I will end up being one because I don’t know what the Lord wants me to do,” she added, saying that both her family and her spiritual beliefs have helped her to make decisions throughout high school that she is proud of.
JOSH MORRISON
For graduating senior Josh Morrison, sports and extracurricular activities have played an important part in not only the memories he will take with him as he heads off to Mercer College to continue his education, but in helping to develop time management skills that will be crucial in college and career.
“I’ve played soccer since I was about ten, as well as basketball and baseball,” said the straight-A student who also is active in his church and the Beta Club. “It’s pretty hard to do them all sometimes, but I always seem to find time to balance them.”
Although self-confidence is an important part of the balancing act, Morrison considers friendships as a key component in making high school both fun, and successful.
“You have to find the right friends,” he said, “ones you can hang out with and have fun.”
Choosing those friends wisely, however, is important, and helps in making good decisions and staying away from the pitfalls that some high school students stumble into, Morrison agreed.
The credit for avoiding those bad decisions lays, in large part, however, with his family, according to Morrison.
“I would give them (his parents) the most credit for helping me stay away from bad decisions,” he said. “Every since I was young, they gave me a good set of morals. Now is the time when they are tested most, but I know what is right and so I try to do it and remove myself from those type of situations.”
Remembering a Toccoa childhood that included playing catch in the front yard with his dad, going to church every Sunday and heading to the Old T restaurant for an after-church meal, Morrison said that continuing his education after high school was always a part of the plan and something his parents encouraged and supported.
“It was pretty much understood since I started school that I would be going to college and get a degree,” he said. “A four year degree has always been something I’ve planned on doing.”
Morrison will be joining his older brother, Jack, at Mercer University in Macon in the fall, and will be studying business and possibly working toward an accounting degree.
I took an accounting class once in high school and really enjoyed that, and both my parents are accountants, so that’s something I can do and enjoy,” he said, adding that math and history have always been his favorite courses and naming Ms. Meeks at Big A Elementary as one of his favorite teachers.
As a part of the “Y generation,” Morrison sees his generation’s more global focus as a defining characteristic.
“I think maybe it both hurts and helps us, but one thing about my generation is how you can be in touch with someone all the way across the state, the country, the world,” he said. “You can talk to them and see their face like they are right there, so you can come together and hopefully we can move more towards a global community and help each other out.”
That ability and hope keep Morrison confident about the future despite the conditions of the nation and the world as he moves forward from high school.
“I’m not really too worried about it (the future). I think prices will still go up, there will always be war; some problems will go away and others will pop up,” he said. “I think they will be reoccurring themes so I figure there is not really any point in worrying. You can be concerned about it, but there is no point in worrying yourself to death over it.”
MATT WILLIAMS
For senior Matt Williams, the future, and his generation’s ability to guide that future, is cause for concern.
“I’m nervous about the future because it doesn’t seem like we are doing too good right now. I don’t think America will be a world power by the time I’m 60 or 70,” he said. “It will probably be top 10, but not one, two or three. China will be up there and then and the Euro.”
Despite those concerns, however, Williams, who is also headed to Mercer University in the fall, is hopeful that changes in economics and education in the US can change that scenario.
“We need to lower free trade and try to get all the outsourcing to come back, because that is what made America so successful to begin with,” he said.
With plans to earn a degree in environmental engineering, Williams knows the lessons he learned and the characteristics he developed as a student in the Stephens County School System will influence not only his career but his ability to affect, along with his generation, that national status.
Both his parents and his teachers have contributed to a successful school career thus far, said Williams.
“This is a good (school) system. Both of my parents work in the system, and all the teachers are really good teachers who love what they do and make learning fun,” he said.
While his parents, who both are science instructors, influenced his interest in science as well as his desire to become a teacher later in life, Williams credits Ella Baldwin “ his third grade teacher at Eastanollee Elementary “ with being his favorite teacher.
“All of my teachers at Eastanollee helped me in different ways, but Ms. Baldwin was my favorite because I learned a lot of basic concepts there that I’ve definitely used,” he said.
“The most fun part of high school was the football seasons, and at our 20-year reunion, we will still be talking about Taren Poole,” said Williams, who was a member of the marching band and attended almost every football game.
Williams’ advice to new high school students is to make new friends, and forming bonds and breaking down barriers is something he feels his graduating class was able excel at.
“I don’t see stereotypes in our class and I don’t see discrimination,” he said. “I have friends in all areas; I have close friends who play sports and I have friends I can say hi to in the halls and it doesn’t matter who they are. I have made friends with people I never would have thought and there is just no big divide in our class.”
TANESHA OGLESBY
For Tansesha Oglesby, the ability to choose friends with the same goals, morals and interests “ along with strong and supportive guidance from her mother, have made a significant impact on her success in high school and helped her make good choices throughout her school career.
“I am proud of not being influenced by crazy things and knowing what is right and wrong,” she said. “That is my advice, to keep your head in the books and stay strong. Don’t be influenced by the things going on around you in Stephens County High School. Things like that may seem like they are cool, but they’re not and staying focused will get you where you need to go.”
That “where you need to go,” for Oglesby, includes Georgia State University and a degree in film and video. Hoping to become a producer, and with plans to make a movie about growing up in Toccoa and her experiences here, Oglesby credits her mother with a great deal of her motivation and success.
“I am close with my mom, we are more like best friends,” she said. “I grew up in a single parent household. My mother and grandmother raised me and three other girls. I know that had to be hard, but we just made it work.”
While attending college was not an automatic assumption, graduating as an honor student and the chance to continue her education are something both she and her family is proud and excited about, said Oglesby.
The influence of teachers on her educational growth has been important since elementary school, and Oglesby said she still remembers her fourth grade teacher Kim Hudson.
“She was a very sweet woman and I remember she worked with me as much as possible because I was hard headed and didn’t want to do my homework,” Oglesby remembers, adding that, although drama classes were probably her favorite classes in high school, it was her literature teacher Shelby Fricks that stood out as her favorite teacher.
“She (Fricks) is like a second mother to me,” she said.
CATHERINE BRIDGES
It was the influence of her mother that Catherine Bridges credits for having the greatest impact on her schooling and the success she has achieved.
The daughter of a single mother, who also happens to be the principal at Liberty Elementary, Bridges said it has always been the expectation that she would go on to college and continue her education.
And she said the struggles and sacrifices made by her mother to support her and her brother’s education played a vital role in preparing her for that path.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a place where I’ve ever needed something and not had it because she (Catherine’s mother) dedicated all her time to us and making sure we had what we needed.” Bridges said. “
A lot of times, that meant her sacrificing things, but she has always spent so much time making sure we had what we needed and let us know she cared for us and she has been there to influence us in what was right and wrong.”
Bridges, who will be attending the University of Georgia and working towards biology major, said her mother being an educator helped to emphasize how important it is to get a good education.
A freshman-level biology course ignited an interest in the Bridge’s fascination with science, however, has its roots in classrooms even earlier than that freshman high school class.
Although working hard and maintaining that stringent work ethic was important to Bridges, she said the ability to balance both work and fun is an important part of getting the most from the school experience.
“I played softball all my life, and I started playing tennis in middles school,” she said. “Balancing that with schoolwork is challenging, and there have been times where I wondered why I did it, but high school has been fun and I’ve really enjoyed it. I am definitely ready to go, but I will miss all the friends I've made and I definitely have memories that I will never forget.”
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