By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
CORDOVA — More than 100 students, staff, family members and friends attended the Cordova School graduation ceremony Tuesday morning inside the school gymnasium.
The overriding message: While each of the three graduates — Skylar Xavier Cephas, Ronald Martez Covington and Betty Ann Dawkins — succeeded in making it to the classroom, all three had an impact on those at the school that is sure to have a positive impact for years to come. The relationships were far from one-sided.
Dennis Quick, executive director of Richmond County Schools, told the graduates that not only did they have a hand in their success, but so did parents, siblings, teachers and others.
“Remember how special these young people are,” Quick said.
First-year Cordova School instructor Paulette Walker-Ocean said that Cephas was “one of the students you couldn’t help but to love.”
Through him, Walker-Ocean said, she learned how to be more creative.
Teacher Troy Thompson said all three students brought something very special to the Cordova campus.
“You definitely had an impact on me,” Thompson said.
Richmond County Board of Education member Pam Easterling noted that “sometimes blessings come in different forms, in different packages” and that “sometimes they just hide.” Easterling followed with a special invocation, in song, about how important it is to realize those blessings as they present themselves.
The 40-minute program included a welcome by Principal Ellen Mabe and the processional of all three graduates. Cephas was escorted by Walker-Ocean, while Covington was escorted by his sister, Kiara McSween, and Dawkins was escorted by Thompson.
The Cordova School choir, led by Lauren Lutz, led attendees in the national anthem and a singing of The Star-Spangled Banner. Crystal Williams presented a slideshow, accompanied by recorded music, that offered favorite moments on campus of each of three graduates captured by a camera — holidays, athletics and sometimes simply moments with friends always to be cherished.
Mabe and outgoing Superintendent Dr. George Norris presented the certificates of graduation to each student and Mabe directed all three to turn their tassels from right to left to signify their status as young scholars.
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