Seeger Wormald

Thank you parents and family members for being here today. Thank you for supporting these graduates and helping them get to where they are today. I also want to thank my parents, teachers and friends for all you have done to support me. Lastly, I want to thank God for giving us the opportunity to gather here today and celebrate these seniors.

I want to talk about what makes a class great. Is it their academic accomplishments? Is it success in athletics? Is it achievements in band, choir, speech and debate, robotics or theater? Is it outstanding involvement in the National Honor Society and student council? Well, I believe that success and high achievement are a combination of all of these things. And I know that this success is because of the great character of every student who is graduating with me today. 

Now you may be wondering, what is “great character” composed of? Well according to Mr. Heny’s giant poster above the computers in his room, good character stems from these eight keys to excellence. Integrity, failure that leads to success, speaking with good purpose, making the most of every moment, commitment, ownership, flexibility and balance are the eight building blocks to excellent character. While this is just a poster, which I had never paid attention to until a few weeks ago and which most of you have also never read, I really like these eight keys because I can see how each of these aspects has led to our class’s excellence. For the rest of my time in front of you, I want to share some specific examples of when this class has demonstrated the eight keys. 

The first key that Heny’s poster lists is “integrity.” I have watched these seniors sacrifice their time, money and personal wants in order to serve the welfare of others in an honest and kind manner. Integrity is visible within the student council and National Honor Society organizations at PHS, and we can see the integrity with all the community service involvement we had this year and the record numbers made for Make-a-Wish. I know that these students will continue to operate with integrity and honesty.

“Failure leads to success” is the second excellence key on Heny’s poster. I believe that these students have grown from many failures and use those setbacks to better themselves. Although it is not a school sanctioned event, the biggest example of members of this class learning from a mistake happened at state baseball. I watched the Pioneers lose to Cody 17-0, and I thought that the team would be too upset to shake it off and give 100% throughout the rest of the tournament. However, the team never gave up and they learned from this terrible game and ended up beating Cody twice to win state. So, the two lessons to take away from this is to learn from failure and that Powell is just better than Cody.

One of my favorite aspects of excellence and great character is the third key: “speaking with a good purpose.” Being kind and sincere can have an impact way beyond what we see. I have seen many of our Panther Strong Ambassadors put this into practice with their freshmen, and I hope to see these individuals speak with a good purpose for the rest of their lives.

Fourth, on Heny’s poster, is “make the most of every moment.” I believe that our seniors have done a wonderful job of making the most of their last few weeks of senior year. One example of this is with their senior assassin game. Instead of trying to just skip through these last few weeks of high school, a lot of these seniors have been having fun eliminating each other with their squirt guns and making memories.

Further, I am proud to say that the class of 2024 has proven their excellence through the fifth key, which is commitment. These seniors have shown commitment in all of the sports and activities that they do. Members of this class helped to bring home first place in men’s basketball and women’s cross country. Volleyball also placed second and won regionals. Boys tennis also won regionals. These teams and all other PHS sports teams don’t just show commitment in the season, they show it throughout the entire year. 

Next, is “ownership.” Our students in FFA, journalism, robotics, theater, band, choir and speech and debate have shown ownership through the hard work that they have put in through these programs. They have shown success at the local, state and national level. They know how to take initiative and persevere through challenging tasks. These groups have represented our school well at their respective shows and competitions. 

Additionally, I know that every individual graduating here today has mastered some level of “flexibility.” I know this because our freshman year, we had to be flexible just to go to school. That year was shortly after COVID-19, and we had to do a lot of things differently. We had to wear masks, walk one way in the hallway, be separated by dividers and stay home for two weeks or more if we were quarantined. Learning and staying caught up in school was difficult from home, but these seniors overcame those challenges by being flexible. 

The last key to excellence is “balance.” On top of the numerous sports and extracurricular activities our class participates in, we still thrive in academics. We have 11 students who received a 30 or over on their ACT this year compared to an average of 3-4. Also, more than 20% of us have at least a 4.0 weighted GPA meaning more than 20% of our class is graduating with honors. Accomplishments like these only come when there is balance in our lives.

These graduates have shown so much excellence throughout their high school career and their lives. I know that they will continue to grow in excellence on any path that life takes them on. Through examples of integrity, failure that leads to success, speaking with good purpose, making the most of every moment, commitment, ownership, flexibility and balance, I think it is safe to say that the class of 2024 will go down as the G.O.A.T. class. 

Thank you.