The 2017 GPS class officers
Phoebe Warren & Leah Baxter
GPS seniors lined up on the Rotunda
The GPS Class of 2017 was lauded but also challenged at the Commencement ceremony held on Friday. Most of all, they were celebrated – by their families, their friends, and the faculty.
Head of School Dr. Autumn Graves acknowledged the students’ accomplishments and quoted from the girls’ chapel talks to illustrate the wisdom, thoughtfulness, thankfulness, and realizations about life which were presented through the year by each member of the Class of 2017. She also recognized the faculty and staff who “commit themselves every day to the mission of the school and inspire ‘aha’ moments.”
The first of two senior speakers, Leah Baxter, the Ethel B. Poston Valedictorian, quoted poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson – “it is not too late to seek a newer world.” She reminded her classmates, “Today is the beginning of the rest of our lives, with aspirations grand and shiny-new. We are moving on from life here, in favor of something bigger, or, at least, something else. A newer world, one that we can join and experience and remake in whatever way we want.”
Reprising her Chapel Talk, Rebecca Torrence encouraged her classmates to remember that what makes them valuable is their capacity for caring. “The purpose of your life right now is not to do more. The purpose is to be more,” she said. “You are important because of the person that you are, not because of the things that you do. If you can make people happy – if you can make yourself happy – that’s enough.”
Read Leah Baxter’s Valedictory Address here. Read Rebecca Torrence’s Chapel Talk here.
A favorite custom started a few years ago is the faculty/senior recognition of one another. Prior to the ceremony, the members of the senior class form double lines through which the faculty walk as they enter the gym, receiving high fives from their students. At the conclusion of the commencement, the faculty form double lines through which the newly graduated seniors walk, receiving the congratulations from their teachers.
On the day before Commencement, GPS holds Class Day, an afternoon ceremony at which students are honored for character and integrity, wise leadership, unselfish service to the school, enthusiasm, dedication, loyalty, and love of GPS. On Thursda, Dr. Graves and the Upper and Middle School Heads, Jenise Gordon and Elaine Milazzo, presented awards to seniors Iman Ali, Phoebe Warren, Abby Glass, Hannah Brotton, Bailey Bryant, Mimi Vance, Sarah McDougal, Tia Kemp, Isabella Cornea, and Katie Brandao. Phoebe Warren was also recognized as the Rickie Pierce Salutatorian. Academic awards went to seniors Rebecca Torrence, Leah Baxter, Warren, McDougal, Sarah Goodrich, Glass, and Scottie Sandlin. Fine and Performing Arts awards were presented to Silvey McGregor, Lilyanna Everett, Bryant, Lori Baxter, Jennifer Brockman, and Bennett Burns. Athletic awards went to Sandlin, Lucy Newbold, and Kate McVay.
The 78 seniors will attend 58 colleges and universities in 21 states and the District of Columbia.