Salisbury High School grads celebrate as one
Published 12:05 am Sunday, May 29, 2022
At the invitation of Salisbury High Principal Marvin Moore, graduates joyfully toss their caps in the air. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
8: Marvin Moore, principal, tells graduate Dante Phillips how proud of him he is as they shake hands. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
Sean Day, Salisbury High assistant principal, called out the names of each graduate. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
Salisbury High’s Tiffani Ahmani Gadson went all out in school colors - red, black and yellow - to celebrate her graduation. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
Salisbury High staff member Jamie Sheets helps straighten the collar on the graduation gown of Jalan Alexander before he headed to receive his diploma. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
Mallory Link, Salisbury High’s valedictorian, said she knew her peers would all go on to do things that would make the world a better place. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
Salisbury High Class President Ali Khatib told classmates they had all "grown up" over the last four years together and he loved them all. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
The high school banner with the Hornets mascot where grads could have their photo taken coming off the podium, diploma in hand. Elisabeth Strillacci/Salisbury Post
Elisabeth Strillacci
elisabeth.strillacci@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Under a sun-filled blue sky, Salisbury High School graduates cheered on classmates, shook hands with their principal one last time, then tossed their mortarboard caps with joy as their high school career came to a close.
Principal Marvin Moore handed out 237 diplomas on the 50-yard-line of the school’s football field Saturday morning, making sure to tell each student how very proud he was of them.
“I stand in awe of the work you have done and the way you have carried yourselves while you have done it,” he said. He praised students for making Salisbury one of the top schools in the state, and said “You may very well be the closest graduating class I have ever seen.”
Class President Ali Khatib said they “had the high school experience all planned out, and then, COVID.” But he said his classmates demonstrated “flexibility, diligence and adaptation,” and when it was time to come back together in classrooms after so much time apart, he realized, “You’ve grown up. You’ve changed, morphed, blossomed into the young men and women of the future.”
“Remember,” he added, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.”
“When I think of this class,” said Salutatorian William Whitaker Webb IV, “I think of two words: perseverance and potential.”
Valedictorian Mallory Link echoed those sentiments.
“It’s finally up to us to decide where to go with our lives,” she told her classmates. “I know all of us will do things that make this world a better place. I want you to know, I believe in each and every one of you.”
Following the ceremony, students posed in front of the school’s banner for pictures, then proceeded off the field and back into the school, though no longer as students, but as alumni.
