The GPS May Day queen and court
Members of the 2017 GPS May Court were announced on Friday.
Senior Iman Ali, the president of the Student Council, was elected Friday to reign over the 2016-17 traditional May Day festivities. The senior class voted earlier in the week for the six members of the court who were introduced at assembly: Ali, Leah Baxter, Lori Baxter, Elisabeth Hale, Tia Kemp, and Mimi Vance. After cheerfully welcoming the members of the court, students in grades 6-12 voted for the queen.
While votes were being tallied, the student body and faculty watched a video of a very different May Day, one from the 1960s, and noted the dresses, hair styles, and bouquets that are a far cry from what they are accustomed to in the 21st-century. Even the event’s setting, which didn’t have the Middle School enclosing the front lawn, was unlike the familiar surroundings of the May Day ceremonies they’ve witnessed, said officials.
After Iman’s name was called as the May Queen, she took the stage to sit in a chair that once belonged to Tommie Payne Duffy, one of the school’s founders. The repaired and reupholstered chair is the seat that she will use during the May Day ceremonies on Wednesday, April 26. Her vantage point from the Frierson Theatre stage on Friday was in one way similar to what it will be on May Day, a view of the student body members who supported and voted for her to represent them and the school.
A second vote elected Tia Kemp, senior class president, as maid of honor. During the counting of those votes, several three-person teams took to the stage to fashion May Day dresses out of rolls and rolls of toilet paper while the audience, particularly the seniors, shouted suggestions and critiques.
Members of the court are representative in the “highest sense” of the ideals of the school, girls who actively and enthusiastically contribute to the life of the school and who embody the ideals of character and integrity, said officials. The court includes athletes, club leaders, orchestra members, and community service volunteers. All are members of the National Honor Society.