FINISHED: Zion Chapel seniors earn diplomas
Published 4:00 am Tuesday, May 22, 2018
By Jenna Oden
The 50 graduates from the Zion Chapel High School class of 2018 were challenged Monday night to have confidence as they enter the next chapter of their lives.
“Remember to ask yourself what this world needs,” salutatorian Heather Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker asked the class and crowd four times “Do you feel the weight of it?”
“Have confidence to have the strength in yourself,” she said. “We have faced many hardships, but we have overcome them together. Even when classwork beat us down, literally, the weight of the world was at our fingertips.”
Principal Vohn Enloe charged the students to be strong and confident in their daily walks of life after graduation.
“Strive to be responsible citizens,” Enloe said. “I charge you to have unfaltering loyalty to truth, justice and honesty; to be a person your family could be proud to call their own.”
Enloe continued with having the students pledge themselves to their diploma, that they may be strong and conduct themselves like adults.
Valedictorian Kassidy Hester reminisced on the days when they were younger and the first step to the rest of their lives wasn’t knocking on their doors.
“It seems like just yesterday we were just sixth graders nervous for high school,” Hester said. “I remember the first week of high school as we all ran around frantically with the most confused look on our faces, just trying to figure out our locker combinations to get to class on time.”
Hester said that the confidence they had in each other is what brought the class of 2018 together.
“From just being friends to supporting each other at sporting events or in academics, this year was a true blessing,” Hester said. “I have gotten closer to the classmates that I had not been able to in the past years, and it was truly a joy.”
Hester reminded her classmates that even after high school graduation, there is still more waiting for them.
Hester quoted the words of Kane Brown, a country singer: “Sometimes the finish line is the start of something new.”
“We have to embrace the changes in our lives…no matter where you go in your life, have confidence in yourself,” Hester said.
The night ended with closing remarks from Proverbs 16:3: “Commit your work to the Lord and He will establish your plans.”
Some cried and some cheered as students turned their tassel from right to left, but one thing was clear; the room was filled an overwhelming amount of pride for each student graduating.