HUNTINGTON Ƶ More than 125 members of Wayne High SchoolƵs 100th graduating class, the Class of 2024, graduated the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, during a ceremony in Marshall UniversityƵs Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
During the ceremony, Sara Stapleton, principal at Wayne High School, described the Class of 2024Ƶs accomplishments, including that its graduates have Ƶmore solid commitments to their postsecondary schooling or training than a Wayne High School class has had in a long time.Ƶ
Stapleton said 120 students had already made commitments for the fall, of which 42 plan to attend Marshall; 45 plan to attend Mountwest Community and Technical College; a dozen have secured jobs; five will serve in the military; three plan to attend West Virginia University; and other students plan to attend West Virginia State University, West Virginia Wesleyan, BridgeValley Community & Technical College, Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky, Ƶhland Community & Technical College (ACTC) in Ƶhland and the Cabell County Career Technology Center in Huntington.
Stapleton said the class had been awarded roughly $1.5 million in scholarships.
She also said 40 graduates attended Mountwest while in high school, including two students who had graduated from the college before their high school graduation Saturday. Additionally, 30 members of the Class of 2024 were graduating Saturday with a 4.0 or higher.
During the ceremony, graduating senior Jacob Thompson, student council vice president, played the national anthem on a guitar; several songs were performed by students in the school band and choral group the Wayne Singers; graduating senior Trista Workman, also a student council member, did the invocation; graduating senior Bryson Edwards, student council president, did the benediction; Class of 2024 Valedictorian Cambrie Booth gave a speech; and salutatorians Ava Edmonds and Olivia Williamson introduced nine featured alumni who helped hand out diplomas at the ceremony.
The nine featured alumni were:
- 1959 graduate Ronald ƵRonnieƵ Ross, who has been a band director in West Virginia and Indiana, a college educator and a dean and founding dean at Louisiana State University;
- 1961 graduate Gary Ray, who worked with NASA on the Apollo and space shuttle programs, was a consultant for the Artemis program and is now retired;
- 1965 graduate James J. Ross, who was a teacher at East Lynn Elementary School, was principal at East Lynn Elementary and Wayne Elementary School and was director of personnel for the Wayne County school district and is now retired;
- 1978 graduate Patricia Tooley, who worked in the chemical industry with E. I. DuPont de Nemours, co-authored several publications and received numerous U.S. patents and is now retired;
- 1985 graduate Pamela S. Morrison, who has worked for Marathon PetroleumƵs Catlettsburg refinery and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and currently works for the Solenis plant in Suffolk, Virginia;
- 1993 graduate Karin Vernick, who is a certified family nurse practitioner with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, has worked in the intensive care unit, cardiac catheterization lab and emergency department and who is currently employed with the U.S. Department of JusticeƵs Federal Bureau of Investigation;
- 1996 graduate Sarah (Jervis) Enix, who has worked for Charles River Labs and is currently a safety toxicologist with Amgen;
- 2009 graduate Joe Jervis, who has worked for General Atomics, the Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin, is a co-owner of Hangar 9 Aviation and who has been helping to create an aviation maintenance career and technical education(CTE) program for Wayne County Schools; and
- 2017 graduate Kyle Powers, who was a student equipment manager in Olympic sports while going to college at Marshall and has also been an intern with and is now employed full-time with the Pittsburg Steelers.
The ceremony also featured a variety of artifacts from the schoolƵs history that were on display in front of the stage and that attendees could look at and photograph after the ceremony. The artifacts included yearbooks, diplomas, newspapers, athletic uniforms and equipment, instruments, a poster from the schoolƵs production of the musical ƵBye Bye Birdie,Ƶ and other memorabilia.
ƵIn honor of the centennial ceremony, we have something from every decade since 1925 in front of you ... so seniors, the road that youƵve been on was paved by people who once wore these uniforms and wrote those school newspapers,Ƶ Stapleton said during the ceremony. ƵFor 100 years, Wayne High School has been sending students out in the world, and in my opinion, making it a much better place.Ƶ
Before the ceremony started Saturday, graduating senior Clayton Nelson, said, ƵI feel great and honored to be a part of this special opportunity. To be the 100th graduating class is pretty big in my eyes.Ƶ
Graduating seniors Austin Ballengee and Breana ƵBreƵ Holland shared the sentiment. Ballengee said he felt proud to be a part of the 100th graduating class, and Holland said she felt it was an honor.
Reflecting on their favorite memories from their time in high school, Holland said they involved volleyball and being a part of the honor society at Wayne High School and the Heart of Appalachia Talent Search (HATS) Program, a federal TRIO Program of the U.S. Department of Education, through Marshall; Ballengee said the JROTC awards was a memory that he would look back on fondly; and Nelson said the schoolƵs field days were fun and were probably the best memories heƵs had of high school.
Holland also said she would like to give a shoutout to some of her teachers Ƶ Mark Bradshaw, Harry Sowards, Rebekah Sword and Cameron ƵCamƵ Tanner Ƶ and the schoolƵs administrative staff.
Holland said she had Ƶa bunch of mixed emotionsƵ about graduating.
ƵIƵm really excited, but also really nervous,Ƶ she said. ƵBut itƵs also a new chapter for me.Ƶ
Ballengee said he was proud to be graduating and glad that high school was over.
He said his plans for the future include going into the National Guard and then going to Mountwest or ACTC for IT.
Holland said she plans to get her certifications to become an ultrasound tech and to go into an 18-month program at Collins Career Technical Center in Chesapeake, Ohio.
Nelson said his future plans are to go to Marshall and earn a four-year degree in electrical engineering and hopes to get a job in the engineering field.
