By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Bryan County High School graduates 111
Students told to go forth and create masterpieces
DAMION DIXON
Honor graduates Damion Dixon and Justin Faircloth at Saturday's graduation ceremony at Bryan County High School. The school had 36 honor graduates out of a class of 111. - photo by Bryan Browning

Armed with a diploma and a hug from Bryan County High School Principal Dr. Dawn Hadley, the 111 members of the school’s Class of 2014 graduated Saturday morning in a ceremony held before a packed house at the school gym.

“Remember there will always be people in this building who love you,” she told them. “You are a Redskin and this will always be your home.”
The ceremony began with a welcome from senior class president Kolbie Graves, who thanked family, friends, teachers and administrators for making it a memorable senior year.

“I’m overjoyed to know as I walk across the stage today you all will witness and also be a part of my final memory of BryanCountyHigh School,”Gravessaid, beaming.

Senior Courtney Cook led an audience, which included members of the Bryan County Board of Education and superintendent Dr. Paul Brooksher, in the pledge of allegiance, then Logan Wilkes sang “Lean on Me.” And later, Taylor McFarland sang the school’s alma mater.

In between were addresses by twins Ashley and Ansley Avera – the 2014 salutatorian and valedictorian, respectively. Their speeches were similar in theme, which is that life is like a masterpiece. Both sisters started by praising God, then thanked family and friends.

Ashley Avera spoke of a Rheinhardt University art professor who liked to take a piece of charcoal and mark a student’s work, then tell them to deal with it.

“(His goal) was to encourage students to step outside their comfort zone and predetermined idea of what the painting was supposed to look like,” she said. “Our lives are very much like a painting, and graduation is an unmistakable mark whether we’re prepared for it or not. Some of us might know exactly how the painting is supposed to look, others of us are free drawing … However, much like this professor, life does not leave us alone to create our own masterpiece without some charcoal forcing us to ‘deal with it.’”

Avera said seniors had already dealt with the loss of loved ones and other setbacks ranging from bad grades to divorce in the family to not getting into the schools of their choice. She also noted the marks are permanent.

“I’ve been told you can’t erase them,” she said to her fellow graduates. “You might be able to lighten them up in the painting, but for the most part the mark is permanent – in that art class and in life. We must take the marks and continue on.”

Avera continued:  “Some marks in our life will be happy, such as graduation, others will be bitter, such as death,” she said. “They will make us strong and make us unique … this graduating is a large mark on our painting. It’s our responsibility and choice on what we do to it.”

Ansley Avera’s valedictory address recounted what had taken place during the past four years – from hurricanes andSandy Hookto the success of various sports teams and the senior classes’ academic success, which included more than $600,000 in scholarship offers. More than half qualified for the HOPE scholarship, she said.  

“We left our mark on Bryan County High School just like it left its mark on us,” Ansley Avera said. “As we look back on our four years, yes we see these great additions to our masterpieces of life … They were not simply handed to us. Each triumph took hard work and perseverance and practice. We learned we have to push through … in order to accomplish these things.”
She challenged her classmates to continue to work hard.

“While there will be those frustrating charcoal marks, we have proven through these amazing accomplishments we are able to push through those hard times and make something beautiful,” Ansley Avera said. “I challenge you to go out in the world and make many more additions to your masterpiece, but don’t just add to your masterpiece, add to the masterpieces of those around you as well. Jut like we have left our mark on Bryan County High School, go out and leave your mark on the world.”

Sign up for our E-Newsletters
Later yall, its been fun
Placeholder Image

This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

Latest Obituaries