Schools

Bowie High Graduates Look to Future, Remember Time Spent with Friends

The Bowie High School Class of 2011 spent their last moments as a group on Tuesday morning.

The high energy level and excitement from the soon-to-be grads donning blue or white cap and gowns could be felt throughout Comcast Center as the Class of 2011 filed into their seats on the arena floor.

As expected there was a big turnout of friends and family, even drawing family members from outside the region to watch their loved ones take a big step toward their future.

Graduate Asia Ferrell will be moving on to study at Towson University and had family that came from Opalika, AL, to watch her walk across the stage Tuesday morning.

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“We’re very proud, I can remember when she was still a baby,” said James Ferrell, Asia’s uncle. “We promised her we would come and see her graduate.”

While family is a big part of the commencement ceremony, it’s also one of the last times that students will see all of their peers from high school in one place. Most students said the best thing about high school was time spent with friends.

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In her address before her peers, valedictorian Tierra Langley explained when students first start high school, it’s initially awkward until people “relax and fall gently into [their] clique.”

“We learn what friendship truly means. How to get back up after falling over our mistakes,” Langley continued. “I wish you all the best of luck, even though I know you don’t need it.”

Derek “DK” Williamson said that he’s glad that high school is finally over, and is looking forward to going to MICA in Baltimore to study animation and media marketing after going to Anne Arundel Community College for a year.

“There are too many good memories with my friends…” Williamson said as classmate Kendyl Spriggs shared congratulations with him in the student area before making their way out to meet their friends and families.

“My friends are what made high school for me,” said Spriggs, adding that Mr. Lemaster was his favorite teacher at Bowie.

“Good teachers are few and far between, but Mr. Lemaster was one,” he said.

A member of the Bowie High softball team, Lexi Rabbitt, said that her favorite part of going to Bowie was “the people [she] met and all the fun” she had with the softball team and her friends. She plans to try out for the softball team at Towson, where she’ll be majoring in forensic chemistry.

As Teshara Stanley and Tre Thomas talked outside as they and their peers waited in line to get their diplomas—which they don’t get when they walk across the stage—they talked about the recent senior trip to Six Flags, and that it was a favorite high school memory for both of them. Stanley plans to be a graphic designer, while Thomas said he wants to design video games.

Taunya Monroe, who works with security at the Bowie High School Annex—a building with only freshman—said the growth she’s seen in the students from their first year of high school through graduation was emotional.

“A lot of them had been in trouble, and to see them turn their lives around regardless of circumstances, to see them walk across that stage, was just awesome,” she said.

Principal Jane Spence said that all the cliché things normally said about graduating classes are true with Bowie High’s Class of 2011, and that she was really impressed with the group.

 “I am thrilled,” Spence said. “I love this class, they have excelled and carried themselves with class and elegance. I know they will do astronomical things.” 


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