Mid-Carolina

Place: Mid-Carolina High School gymnasium

Time: Friday, June 5, 7:30 p.m.

Number of graduates: 162

Big change: Graduation was moved from the football field to the gym due to a rainy forecast. Graduates had eight tickets apiece to give out. Soft rain fell as the ceremony let out.

Valedictorian: Lauren Frederic

What she said: “I hope you find what you’re passionate about, that something which makes you tick, which makes you work, that something for which you want above all else... With passion, I hope you submit yourself into something so fully and willingly and completely that, unconsciously, you lose yourself.” A day later, Frederic left to work at a camp for children with special needs.

Salutatorian: Amanda Chapman



Class address speaker: M-C alumni Floyd “Trey” Mills III, a cancer survivor and attorney.

How it feels to graduate: ”I feel great. I’ve never felt this way before,” said Wimoke Boonnuch, a former exchange student from Thailand who says back home, graduation is only for college graduates.

How it feels to have a child graduate: “I cried for two days,” said parent Veronica Richardson. “That’s my baby. She’s a grownup. I can’t wait to see what she does with her life.”

Overheard: “Someone needs to take that girl out and buy her a drink,” said a man in the crowd after Valedictorian Lauren Frederic was repeatedly honored for academic achievements.

Newberry High

Place: Newberry High School, Mike Ware Field

Time: Saturday, June 6, 7:30 p.m.

Number of graduates: 206

Distinguished alumni recognized: Emily R. Crump-Saddler, Class of 1977 and coordinator of the Parenting/Family Literacy Program at the School District of Newberry County; Mike Willingham (Class of 1975) and Jerry Willingham (Class of 1976) community and school supporters and owners of Willinghams Building Supply.

Valedictorian: Nathaniel Bernando

What he said: “Remember what it feels like to be the ‘top dog.’”

Salutatorian: Caleb-Scott Cohoon

What he said: “Our journey is far from over.”

Original music: Graduate Sarah Ann Moseley composed, sang and played on her guitar a song written especially for her classmates, “Bonfires.”

Part of the refrain: “Remember the bonfires on Deadfall Road and off 34.”

Biggest applause line: When last graduate Drew Michael Zuber’s name was called, and the graduates and crowd began to come to their feet, clapping and preparing to flip tassels and throw mortarboards.

Overheard: “Should we even be out here?” one well-wisher wondered as people poured onto the track to snap pictures as the graduates made their processional into the ceremony.