Carroll Academy is getting ready to launch the Class of 2021 during commencement exercises at 7 p.m. Monday.
That is when a tight-knit group of 14 seniors will cross the stage at the school gym and officially become Rebel alumni.
Penny Mitchell, the headmaster, said she is proud of the class, which has grown close while at Carroll.
“It is a small class, but they’ve always been like that,” Mitchell said.
Among the graduates will be valedictorian Jason Alan Matthews and salutatorian Hannah Lynn Campbell.
Matthews, whose GPA is 3.98, has accepted a full academic scholarship to the University of Mississippi, where he plans to major in chemistry or biology on a pre-dentistry track.
Campbell, whose GPA is 3.90, will attend Northwest Mississippi Community College as a part of the Rangerette dance team. She intends to major in dental hygiene.
While at Carroll Academy, both served on the student council, and they were on the newspaper staff. This led to their membership in Quill and Scroll, the international high school journalism honor society.
Matthews was a part of the sporting clay team, and he was president of the Beta Club.
Campbell was captain of the dance team. She was a member of the Beta Club and the annual staff.
And after a senior year during the COVID-19 pandemic, they both said the experience was still special — perhaps unique. “Thankfully, my senior year was pretty normal,” Campbell said. “But I will say, having to wear masks all the time and not being able to do certain things was a big change. But it was nothing I couldn’t adapt to.”
“It just felt weird because not everybody could always come, and I couldn’t always go to the basketball games or other events, so it was very different,” Matthews said.
They said they will carry with them memories from their high school years, expecially those of being among their friends.
“There are only 14 of us. We have a really close bond,” Matthews said.
“What I will miss the most about CA is the dance team and seeing my friends every day,” Campbell said.
Now that their high school days are coming to an end, they have some parting words.
“I’d like to thank my entire family and my close friends for being supportive through all these years of school,” Matthews said.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned at CA is that hard work pays off and to never be afraid to make mistakes,” Campbell said.
- Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. On Twitter at @AdamBakst_GWCW.
