Wilson Memorial High School 2024 graduation: Photos

Patrick Hite, Staunton News Leader
·2 min read

HARRISONBURG — Joseph Childress told his classmates Monday night that it can be challenging at times to keep going as the "weight of the world comes to bear on your shoulders."

Childress would know better than some. The 2024 Wilson Memorial salutatorian lost his mom just a little over two years ago. Monday, he addressed his fellow graduating seniors at the Wilson Memorial commencement held at James Madison University's Atlantic Union Bank Center.

Childress said it's only natural that, as he and his classmates leave high school and step across a bridge into whatever comes next, to wonder if you could have done things differently.

"For all that I, we, have been through in high school, I'm glad that we have come through it," he said. "I'm not the same person I was four years ago. I've been irrevocably changed by my experiences in and out of high school."

He told his classmates that life does not allow do-overs

"And even when it deals you a miserable hand, the only thing you can do is play your cards the best you can and hope to a higher power that something works out," Childress said. "It's a hard lesson to learn that you can't dwell on the past. It's something I'm still learning every day. You can learn from it and appreciate it, but if you try to live in the past or escape the present you just end up not really living at all. You have to take a risk on the present and on the future."

He urged the seniors to find something that brings them joy or fulfillment.

"Gambling is a dangerous game," Childress said. "But in life the only way to truly lose is not to play. For what it's worth, I've lost some, didn't value what I had enough and now I have only regret. But I've won some as well."

VALEDICTORIAN

Sara Cassidy U. Plautz

SALUTATORIAN

Joseph R. Childress

CLASS PRESIDENT

Megan E. Cross

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

Dawn Young, Principal of Wilson Elementary School

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— Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Wilson Memorial 2024 graduation ceremony: Photos