PRAIRIE GROVE — With dark skies in the background, members of the Prairie Grove High Class of 2021 finished out their high school career following a senior year dominated by constant news about the covid-19 pandemic.
Principal Jed Davis welcomed a crowd of parents, grandparents and friends filling both home and visitor stands at Tiger Stadium, with many others standing along the edges.
“With all the challenges they’ve faced in the past 16 months, I’m so excited we’re able to gather here today,” Davis said.
He thanked several specific groups for the past 16 months, including nurses, health professionals, maintenance and custodial staff.
“These two groups went above and beyond in making sure we could educate your children.”
Davis also recognized parents and guardians and then staff and faculty.
“This was one of the hardest years ever, especially in education, and you knocked it out of the yard. The rules and guidelines for education were changed almost daily and, like we say in education, you just monitored and adjusted and you did it extremely well.”
Prairie Grove Class of 2021 had 140 seniors, and 133 participated in the commencement ceremony, a 95% graduation rate, said Mandy Hunt, high school counselor.
In all, the graduates were offered almost $4.5 million in college scholarships, Hunt said.
The ceremony opened with the high school honor choir and then the traditional processional performed by the high school band.
Class President Eleanor Nations led the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the singing of the National Anthem and the school’s Alma Mater, performed by the choir. Four graduates addressed their classmates. Gracie Foster read a poem she had written and Lane Bunnell played guitar and sang “Humble and Kind,” a song from country star Tim McGraw.
Nations reminded her fellow graduates that in the “blink of an eye, we will be different.”
But she noted, “Though we may part with Prairie Grove High School, it will never part with us.”
She told those sitting in front of her their memories will stay the same, as other changes happen in their lives. “A year from now, no matter what everyone is doing, we will still have each other,” Nations said. “If we ever feel lonely or lost or forgotten, we will always have each other. These happy golden moments will never fade.” She concluded, “Carry this piece of time in your heart, as I will carry it in my mine.”
Graduate Mariah Halbert pointed out the Class of 2021 will be written down in the history books.
“We pushed through the chaos that was 2020, the pandemic, the loss of wonderful people, the social unrest,” Halbert said. “We have risen from the ashes of 2020, and it is now time to start the next chapter in our lives.”
Halbert said graduates have learned from family, friends, mentors and educators.
She encouraged them to use this knowledge to become better people and share with others as they move forward.
“So go, go and find your calling and succeed but don’t leave others in the dark,” Halbert said. “Teach others. Teach them your passion, your obedience, your love, your grief, your individuality and your understanding. Thank you, Prairie Grove.”
Davis addressed his seniors one last time, giving them lessons he had learned that he wanted to pass onto them. For the last “and most important lesson,” he asked all to pick up a single crayon that had been placed under their chairs.
Davis recalled how in kindergarten he was so excited about his new box of crayons until he saw the girl next to him with the box of 64 crayons with a sharpener on the side of the box.
“I was jealous of her crayons, and all of a sudden, my crayons didn’t seem as good,” Davis said.
Davis encouraged the graduates to share in the celebrations of others and not to “let someone else’s stuff take joy from you.”
He also noted that having a crayon is “awesome” but it’s only one color.
“Pictures are better when they have all the colors involved,” Davis said. “It’s better when we do it as a group. Nobody is successful by themselves. Take other people with you.”
Prairie Grove hands out several awards each year at its graduation ceremony. For the Class of 2021, Knox Laird received the Billy Maxey Memorial Award and Makinsey Parnell received the Phyllis Mae Orr Award. Four students, Gracie Foster, Knox Laird, Alexis Light and Eleanor Nations, received Hall of Fame Awards.