Tiftarea Academy celebrates graduation of 42 students
May 14—TIFTON — As they bid farewell to Tiftarea Academy, the graduating class of 2024 steps into the next chapter of their lives with great expectations for what's to come.
Forty-two students of the academy celebrated the long journey they'd made to their graduation the evening of May 10, accompanied and cheered on by their friends, family, and mentors in the halls of the First Baptist Church of Tifton.
The graduates clustered in the choir seating area at the front of the chapel, with Reagan Bozeman and Tim Nolin welcoming both students and guests to the ceremony and expressing their gratitude to everyone who had supported the graduates in getting to this moment.
A slideshow of images recounting cherished moments from the graduating students' time at Tiftarea played, reminding them of all they had experienced and come to treasure.
Salutatorian Addison Jackson expressed how much she had come to appreciate her time at the academy, urging her classmates to remember the bonds and relationships they had forged during their education and keep them close to their hearts.
Jackson insisted that this graduation was but one step along their journeys, and she encouraged them to go out and find their way of making the world a better place.
"As we start this new chapter of our lives, we have many choices and opportunities — this is the time to grow, change, and truly find ourselves," Jackson said. "This is not the end of our education, but rather the beginning of finally learning the paths we want to pursue."
For the class's senior gift, Ady Granberry and Elaine Mercer presented the audience with a painting — dubbed "Friday Night Lights" and depicting the Class of 2024 playing on the hill behind the academy — in memory of Kendall Lamb, a Tiftarea student who passed away in 2016.
Granberry and Mercer, close friends of Lamb, declared they would graduate in her honor.
Following this, valedictorian Nadia Yaeger, a student of Tiftarea for 14 years, recounted her long and storied history at the academy and how her experiences there had shaped her into who she had become.
She reminded her classmates that they didn't have to have everything about their future figured out, encouraging them to follow the path they felt was right for them.
"At the end of the day, my life is mine," Yaeger said. "Whatever I want to do with it will be what I needed to do all along."
Headmaster Stacey Bell was proud to present the graduating class to the audience in attendance, and afterwards oversaw the distribution of the students' diplomas.
Another slideshow displayed images of the graduates with their families, with Hallie Haggard and Eli Stevens offering their gratitude to the parents of the graduates for their support, guidance, and love.
The pair asked the parents in the audience to stand in recognition of their support for their children through everything.
"Life is filled with memories, but the ones we are here to talk about right now are the most important of all: the memories we have created with you," Haggard said. "From walking us to class on our first day of school to watching us walk across the stage today, you all have experienced everything with us. During our highest highs and lowest lows, you — our parents — have held our hands all the way here."
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the graduating students turned their tassels, officially making them graduates of Tiftarea Academy, and joined their classmates and loved ones in singing the school's alma mater.
