Gathered in the Scott's Branch High School cafeteria, groups of teenagers took selfies with their phones and pictures of their friends.They joked and hugged and sometimes got too loud and rowdy but quieted down when adults told them to; they were excited.
They were about to graduate from high school.
Sitting at a table by himself, though, Jaysean Junious was nervous.
“I didn’t know if I would make it,” the 19-year-old Virginia native said with a smile of accomplishment. “It was hard.”
He explained how he’d struggled with algebra; he couldn’t concentrate. But several years ago, he became interested in computers – understanding how they work as well as building Web pages.
“Mr. (Robert) Ragno showed me a few tricks – a few shortcuts, and I caught on like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Now I like it a lot.”
And in three weeks, Junious will start basic training in the U.S. Army.
“Like my brother. He’s in the Air Force,” he said. “But since I was a kid I wanted to be in the Army.”
When he lined up with classmates, Junious couldn’t help smiling: He knew he’d made it.
Inside the packed gym, videocameras were set up. Cameras and phones were ready to record the moment.
When you go up against trouble, see it through, Tiana James told the audience at Scott’s Branch High School.
“Meet it face to face,” the salutatorian told her fellow seniors.
“You may fall,” she said, “but you may conquer.”
James, who was born and raised in Clarendon County, thanked her family for their helping hands and advice, and said she learned from her grandmother Esther Mae James that education is a tool to accomplish your goals.
Choking up, she told the crowd her grandmother, who helped raise her, passed away two days shy of graduation.
“God had other plans. But I’ll carry her in my heart wherever I go,” she said.
Let your work speak for itself and shy away from negativity, she said.
“If I ever let my head down, it’s only to admire my new shoes,” she said, drawing a laugh from the audience.
Kevin Gist, the valedictorian, said his years at Scott’s Branch High School were the greatest years he’s ever experienced – a measure of time in friendships.
Gist urged his class to take the initiative and observed there are three types of people: those who watch, those who make it happen and those who don’t know what’s going on.
“Nothing in life is perfect,” he said. “Embrace change and accept it 100 percent.”
There will be times when you fall on your face, he said, but you need to brush it off and live with your mistakes while holding firm to core beliefs. Meet challenges with your head held high and heart wide open, he said.
Gist said he was proud to be part of the best class to grace the halls of Scott’s Branch High School.
“We made it.”
