E.C. Glass High School English teacher Aaron Reid didn’t realize how animated he could be while talking until he was giving a speech on his graduation day at the high school in 1994.
He hadn’t rehearsed his speech with his cap and tassel, which kept smacking him in the face as he spoke.
“At one point I stopped, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’” Reid said. “My brain was split between the speech that I was giving and not moving too much so that this car-washing tassel didn’t get in my face.”
More than two decades later, as an English teacher at Glass, Reid is busy helping three selected seniors craft their own speeches from a sometimes “meaningless mess” of ideas into a powerful piece.
Reid’s memory of Glass’ English department made him want to return to the school.
“I didn’t know that I was going to be coming back exactly, but I knew that wherever I ended up, I wanted to be part of a department that was as fun and energetic and inspiring as the one I had come in contact with,” Reid said.
Today Reid teaches in the same classroom he sat in for English when he was a student, which is next door to his senior year English teacher, who still teaches at the school.
In Campbell County in 2002, Amy Hale stood on the stage at Rustburg High School’s graduation giving a speech as the valedictorian. This year, Hale will make a speech at the school’s graduation in a different role: principal.
During her speech as valedictorian, Hale spoke of the importance of perseverance, which will be the same message in her speech on June 2.
Hale said she wanted to return to Rustburg for several reasons such as family living in the area, and she saw it as an opportunity to give back to the community in which she grew up.
“If you asked me when I was a senior at Rustburg if I would ever be in this position, I would probably say there is no way that would happen. Over time you grow and value your community even more,” she said.
Hale said the school is still a close-knit community with 21 other faculty and staff members at Rustburg who graduated from the school.
“Some people joke that you never truly leave Rustburg, and I think that is true, that sometimes things come full circle. I think it speaks to the community and to the school that individuals have a good experience as students but also want to provide that experience to others,” Hale said.
When Sherri Given was a senior at Staunton River High School in 1987, having senioritis — a lack of motivation and performance for seniors — wasn’t an option. Her parents expected her to perform her best until the last day of school.
As a theater teacher at Staunton River High School now, Given said she holds her “seniors up to the fire all the way to the end.”
After graduating from college, she was a substitute for Bedford County Public Schools, working many days at her alma mater, before officially being hired as a teacher at Staunton River High in 1994.
In her first year back at the school, Given said she couldn’t refer to teachers by their first name until she knew them on a more personal level because she was accustomed to saying mister or missus.
Leading up to their respective graduations, Given, Hale and Reid all said seniors were full of excitement.
As a teacher, Given said May is the “hard part” of the year because she knows her seniors are leaving.
“For me, [the best part is] making that personal connection, watching them grow from awkward, unsure teenagers into mature, confident young adults thinking that they are ready to take on the world,” Given said.
Their own graduation days left the three educators feeling a sense of finality because they all said they knew there were many classmates and teachers they wouldn’t see again.
Every year as a teacher, Given lines up the seniors and paces them as they enter for graduation. She has a chance to see all of her seniors one more time.
“I get the luxury of walking up where the seniors are and seeing my kids, getting to hug them and tell them I’m proud of them and just let them know that someone realizes what they’ve achieved because some of them don’t have that,” Given said.
Walking across the stage to get her diploma, Hale said all she could think about was not falling.
Reid said he was thinking about how even though he had success in high school, he felt unprepared for college.
“I can remember being worried. Have I done enough? Am I actually ready for this next thing? Teachers say you’re going to be successful, it’s going to be OK, but because I am who I am, I didn’t believe that,” Reid said.
Now as a principal, Hale said “it’s very meaningful” to watch students walk across the stage as their names are called because “for every student, that’s a major accomplishment, but for some students, you know even more what challenges that student has faced over the years.”
Given said at that point in someone’s life, graduating from high school is “the pinnacle of your life” and receiving a diploma meant “realizing that all the hard work you put in really pays off.”
As a teacher at graduation, Reid said he sees students after the ceremony who are happy and with friends and family, but “it’s very much like wait a minute, I can’t go back in there; that door is closed,” which is a feeling he also had when he graduated.
As the seniors move on to college, the workforce, military or other options, Hale, Given and Reid all had advice to share.
Hale said seniors need to pause from looking at the future, focus on the present and “enjoy your moments.” She also encourages students to persevere.
Given said graduates should listen to their consciences because “it’s usually right. Always work the hardest that you can work, not just what’s acceptable. Be the best person that you can be daily because that’s what people will remember.”
In 1994, Reid said he left the school feeling even though he made friends, got along with teachers and made an impact on the community, he “still fundamentally felt like I didn’t really matter.” As a teacher, Reid’s biggest advice to students is to know they matter.
“If there’s a reason that I’m an English teacher; it’s to help them understand that their stories are no less important than ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” Reid said. “I would hate for kids to walk out of this building feeling what I felt 20-something years ago.”