Inaugural graduating class of The Dalton Academy full of trailblazers
Jun. 2—The Dalton Academy's class of 2022 is comprised of "pioneers, founders, architects who took the path less traveled and blazed it for future Pumas," said graduate Christopher Jacobo. "We founded every club, sport" and other endeavor as the first graduating class in school history, and taking "the path less traveled made all the difference."
Members of the class of 2022 declined the "familiar and traditional" Dalton High School to set a tone at a new high school, added Jacobo, who is enlisting in the Georgia National Guard prior to studying to become a teacher. "I've always loved history, and now I got a chance to make history" as part of the first graduating class of a new school.
Friday's graduation at the athletic field on The Dalton Academy's campus was without question "a historic occasion," said graduate Mia Carvajal. "This group is full of hardworking, respectful students."
Though every graduate in the class has "a different story, we all have one thing in common," being members of The Dalton Academy's first graduating class, said valedictorian Ashley Alvarez. "Everyone has the capacity to achieve what they fight for."
As members of The Dalton Academy's inaugural class, these graduates "have led the way and set the tone," said Matt Evans, chairman of the Dalton Board of Education. "You went the second mile here," as did all the school's teachers and staff members, and "we have loved watching this school operate in year one on mile two."
Graduates ought to "live on the second mile," which is "an attitude," Evans said. "The first mile is the minimum, and most people live life this way."
However, the first mile is "obligation and what is expected," he said. The second mile is "opportunity and going above and beyond."
"How you do whatever you do will be the determining factor in your life," Evans said. "You can choose how to live, (so) let today be a day of decision."
"I can feel the excitement this day brings throughout this stadium," said graduate Lexus Stacy. Though senior year challenged her the most, it also "caused me to achieve the most."
For Alvarez, age 12 was her hardest year, as she "left everything" in Mexico to come to the United States and "had to adapt to a new environment," she said. She didn't know English, but she quickly discovered that "you have to learn, practice and study" to succeed in life.
"Nobody knows everything, and that is OK," she said. "Nobody is perfect, but we are all perfectly imperfect, and that is fine."
"Don't mind what others say," she added. "Live your life, and be happy."
Stacy's life has not "gone as planned," she said. As a high school freshman, she was overwhelmed by academic pressures, which led to panic attacks and breakdowns.
Diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, she eventually found her path, always hearing her mother's advice that she can "do anything in life, as long as I do it with my full heart," she said. She encouraged her fellow graduates that "whatever you do in life, do it with a full heart and" — as Dolly Parton famously sang — "a cup of ambition."
