Forbush High School graduate Caleb Boles (right) moves his cap tassel as his classmate Nate Bonds (immediate left) tosses his hat at the conclusion of their commencement ceremony Wednesday.
EAST BEND — “Are you ready?” Christian Furno asked Forbush High School senior Samuel Carter as he prepared to walk across the graduation stage to receive his diploma.
Carter smiled, his eyes trained on the stage.
“Give a firm handshake. Swing your arms,” counseled Furno, who as a graduation junior marshal peppered seniors with a steady stream of pep talk. “Good luck.”
Forbush gave a poignant sendoff to its 181 graduating seniors during the warm morning of June 2 at the school’s stadium.
In his speech, Senior Class President Jeren Sears asked seniors to take a trip on a time machine and remember that when they were born, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat didn’t exist, alluding to the possibilities of their lives in the coming years.
“What dreams will you pursue?” he asked them.
Principal Denny Key lamented that the graduates were deprived of “a normal senior year,” without the experiences of a traditional prom, going on dates and many of the iconic moments of the last year of high school. He told them they had “persevered like no other.”
“In retrospect, maybe this was a blessing in disguise,” Key said. “Maybe you can breath a little deeper and hold friends a little tighter.”
He urged his audience to “embrace opportunity, take the trip you’ve always wanted to take” … and after a year defined by caution, to instead seize each moment.
The Forbush senior class departs with $59,000 in local scholarship awards, with 18% of the class heading to a 4-year college and 44% heading to a 2-year college. Another 35% of students will directly enter the workforce and 3% are military bound.
Cheers and air horns rang out as graduates’ names were announced. The mood of the ceremony alternated between joyous for the celebration of accomplishment and solemn for the challenges that had been surmounted. In the background were the dignified notes of the violin played by Monika Wilmot of the Winston-Salem Symphony, accompanied by piano played by Jacob Hill, who is a Forbush class of 2011 alumnus and currently the Music Associate and Organist at First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
For all the traditions the pandemic had blocked, in the end, the graduates moved their tassels across their caps and then tossed them toward the sky. The earlier words of senior class president Sears were still fresh in the air: “Once a Falcon, always a Falcon. Fly high, Falcons.”
Lisa Michals may be reached at 336-449-4968 or follow her on Twitter @lisamichals3.