May 31, 2022
Graduation ceremony highlights community spirit
By Travis Hairgrove | Herald-Banner Staff
The air was full of the sound of cheers and air horns at T.A. “Cotton” Ford Stadium on Friday when 325 seniors from Greenville High School and New Horizons High School walked across the stage and into a new chapter in their lives.
One of the highlights of the ceremony was the graduation of the 13 students who make up its first class of Early College High School, a four-year program through which students can earn associate’s degrees in engineering or multidisciplinary studies.
This year also saw Greenville High School’s seniors graduate with a total of nearly $2.14 million in scholarships, and 10 of the students learned just two days earlier that they had been hired to work at L3Harris after graduation.
One of the overriding themes of the ceremony was that of relationships and the importance of nurturing them.
Click here to view the photo album on the GISD Facebook page.
GHS Principal Brant Perry, who had just finished his first year working in GISD after a 24-year career in Plano, commented on how moved he was by previous principal Heath Jarvis’ investment in the students.
“I was hired one year and a week ago … and I watched the graduation from home. I kept watching Mr. Jarvis and making comments to my wife because he was having like five-minute conversations with every student who walked up on stage. I asked her, ‘Who does this guy think he is, Santa Claus?” Perry said in his speech.
“But now that I’m in Greenville, I understand. This is a place full of relationships and full connections.”
Similarly, Valedictorian Jenna Wade emphasized how Greenville ISD is continuing to teach new generations of children from the same families they’ve served for years.
“What seems to be forgotten is the kind of people that make up Greenville ISD, a community that is built from people who just simply care about other people around them, a community that has made a lot of our parents the people they are today and now choose to put their own children into Greenville schools as well,” Wade said.
Meanwhile, Salutatorian Caden Bowers put a humorous spin on the same theme of community, by injecting a bit of lighthearted razzing.
“Our journey began 13 years ago as little five year olds in kindergarten, learning our ABC’s and to read and write,” Bowers said. “We built countless memories here and still, to this day, argue about which elementary school was the best.
