West Caldwell honors 2022 graduates

Jun. 6—LENOIR — On Friday, June 3, West Caldwell High School's 45th graduating class of 2022 celebrated their successful graduation with a ceremony on the campus football field.

The West Caldwell Chorus started the proceedings with a performance of the National Anthem.

"The number 45 is highly positive and optimistic," said Principal Craig Styron in his opening address. "This number is a sign that massive changes are about to take place in your life ... Regardless of your path, you all should work tirelessly in order to make your dreams come true. Be enthusiastic about everything you do ... I challenge you to not only make your life better, but also the lives of everyone you encounter."

Four years ago, Styron began a tradition of gifting the graduating seniors a gem stone. Every year, he picked a different color to symbolically represent each graduating class. This year, for the class of 2022, he chose glow-in-the-dark gemstones.

"These 124 seniors are going to help shine the light down on future Warriors who will one day become graduates of West Caldwell High School and forever be a part of the Warrior family," Styron said.

As the seniors crossed the stage to accept their diplomas amid uproarious applause, they each deposited their gem stone into a glass vase at the front of the stage.

"This glass vase is proudly displayed in our cafeteria, along with the yearbook cover and the cap for the year of graduation," said Styron. "These seniors will always be a part of West Caldwell and will always be looking over our shoulders."

The graduating class of 2022 earned a total of over $824,000 in scholarships to aid them in the pursuit of their goals beyond high school.

Abigail Autry was recognized for her perfect attendance record throughout not only high school, but also her entire 13 years of schooling.

Senior Kaitlyn Roark performed the song, "For Good" from the Broadway show "Wicked." Her performance was not listed on the program and was kept secret from even her parents.

Jennifer Miller, social studies teacher and senior sponsor, introduced Senior Class President Abigail Braswell to speak. Braswell will attend NC State in the fall as a Good Night Scholar and plans to major in Veterinary and Agricultural Studies.

"Through her hard work and dedication, she earned multiple scholarships," said Miller, "with the most notable being the Good Night Scholarship at NC State University, which is valued at more than $88,000 over the course of four years ... This is just another testament to how exceptional Abby Braswell is. Abby has been a true asset to West Caldwell High School."

Braswell said that as she thinking about what she wanted to write in her speech, she thought back to elementary school, and more specifically, the first time she read a chapter book.

"That was a big deal," she said. "It got me thinking about high school and the different chapters of this experience, each one with a different title and a different lesson."

More from this section

Proud Boys leaders charged with sedition ahead of Jan 6 hearing

See which first lady Jill Biden honored on her own postage stamp

'Open Source' Automated Insulin Delivery Systems Help People With Type 1 Diabetes

She proceeded to give each year of high school a different chapter title. Ninth grade was titled "One Big Melting Pot."

"We came into freshman year as the Gamewell kids, the Collettsville kids, the William Lenoir kids, and the Hudson Middle kids," she said. "We stayed in those groups, but as we took classes together, we began to bond. We were no longer identified as our middle schools, and we finally became West Caldwell kids. We learned to talk to new people and not be afraid to reach out."

Braswell said that 10th grade would be divided into two separate chapters. The first semester of sophomore year would be titled "Ignorance is Bliss."

"We had no idea what was to come in the next semester," she said. "First semester of sophomore year was the last time we were unaware of all the things we had been taking for granted."

Braswell said the second semester of sophomore year would be called "What is Social Distancing?"

"The first two months of the second semester we were excited for what 2020 had to offer," Braswell said. "If we had only known that that extra week of Spring Break would turn into the rest of the semester ... We learned that doing school from home may not be as cool as we thought it was."

Braswell next titled eleventh grade year, "Submit before 11:59 p.m."

"Not only were we scared to fail our English tests, we were scared to fail a COVID test," she said. "We no longer had immediate access to help when we had a question; reminders for turning in assignments were no longer in person ... We weren't all in one building, and I think we almost forgot that half of the student body existed."

"Oh, and those routes that took you all freshman year to memorize so you didn't get lost and get to class on time?" she continued. "Scratch 'em, because you could only go a certain direction in the hallways. We might as well have been freshmen again ... Although I think we can all agree that we could have done without a global pandemic, it did prepare us for stepping away from the routines of school and setting up our own."

Lastly, Braswell titled senior year "Together Again."

"Finally together," she said. "As much as we may not like school at times, I believe we were excited to go back and be Warriors full time."

"These next chapters may not come with AR [Accelerated Reading], but they will come with tests," Braswell finished. "The tests that face us will be different for each one of us. These lessons that we have learned over the past 13 years has prepared us for this. So make sure to take time to remember these lessons. Number one: try new things and be good people. Number two: never take anything for granted. Number three: create structures and groups of people that support your goals. And lastly, always remember: you are a Warrior."

Following Braswell's speech, Principal Styron and school counselors Ellen Miller and Esther Wakefield presented diplomas to the 124 graduating seniors of West Caldwell High School.