Murphy – One-hundred fourteen Murphy High School seniors took their last walk off “The Hill” at Bob Hendrix Memorial Stadium on Friday night after receiving their high school diplomas.
Among those graduates there were five summa cum laude graduates, including Kinslee Campbell, Mollie Rogers, Sarah Turner, Will Joyner and Sanai Wilson. These seniors had to maintain a 4.25 grade point average or higher to receive this designation.
Murphy High had 20 seniors who earned the magna cum laude designation for maintaining a 4.0 to 4.24 GPA. They include Trista Allison, Taylor Conner, Addyson Dickey, Lillian Dowdy, Jaden Hodges, Lailee Holloway, Gracelyn Hughes, Tailor Jenkins, Brooklyn Kent, Molly Ledford, Carson Lovingood, Conner McMillian, Morgan Moore, Joseph Morin, Calista Rumfelt, Trenton Russell, Maddison Seabolt, Zach Skogen, Hunter Stalcup and Matthew Stalcup.
After being welcomed by Principal Wendy Leatherwood, the National Anthem was performed by senior Callista Rumfelt, who received a standing ovation for her performance.
Campbell then addressed the audience and gave her fellow seniors a charge using a quote from Kobe Bryant, “It’s not the destination but the journey.”
She followed that up by saying, “So, enjoy your journey, wherever it may take you.”
Sarah Turner reminded her fellow classmates, “We have reached the end of a chapter, but this new chapter of our lives is just the beginning. This new journey is only just starting.” She went on to say the class will have good memories of their years at Murphy High.
The last speaker before awarding diplomas was Molly Rogers, who gave this thought for her classmates.
“As we stand on the threshold of our future, it’s good to reflect on the past, but it is also important that we focus on opportunities for our future for self-betterment and discovery,” she said. “The future may be uncertain, but it is full of possibilities. Each of us hold within us the power to make a difference, pursue our passions and shape our own destinies.”
Rogers closed with a challenge to her classmates by challenging them to make a difference in the world as they launched the next chapter of their lives.
After the awarding of diplomas, class President Xander Wachacha came to the podium. Wachacha, who transferred from Robbinsville High School to Murphy High for his senior year, reflected on being the new kid at school as he congratulated his classmates.
“We have now done the one thing required to us by the government,” he said to laughter.
Wachacha went on to say that a year ago he was Murphy High’s rival, but after he came to Murphy last summer, he instantly made lifelong friends, and got to know a community that was supportive and caring of all of its students, even a new one from a rival school. He was taught all the traditions at Murphy High, but the one he remembers the most is the touching of the dog as you come off the hill.
He didn’t do it one time, and coach Joseph Watson yelled at him and told him it was bad luck when you didn’t touch the dog. He went on to say, “I will always touch the dog, and I have been proud to wear the black and gold.”
The Class of 2024 celebrated the end of the ceremony by launching a wall of confetti.