by Matthew Osborne
• Habersham Central graduation, 8 p.m. today, Raider Stadium
No graduation speech is ever perfect, but Abby Doster knows there’s at least one thing she does not want to talk about tonight with her classmates.
“My speech is not going to be about COVID,” said Doster, Habersham Central’s Senior Class President for the Class of 2021. “That’s what our whole year has been about. I want to focus on the future and tell my classmates this is our time to thrive.”
Around 468 graduates from Habersham Central and the Success Academy will hear their names called tonight at Raider Stadium, with the ceremony getting underway at 8 p.m. After last year’s ceremony took place July 31 with limited attendance, this year’s crowd could test the capacity of the stadium.
Doster’s brother Ayden Brooksher graduated in 2020, but she was not able to attend because of the social distancing rules and ticket limits.
“That was really heartbreaking last year,” Doster said. “It will be nice to be able to do this as planned and see everyone.”
Doster said she expected the first semester of this year to be all virtual, but she praised school officials and her fellow students for making in-person learning work amid the recovery process.
“First semester was a little more locked down than second semester, and it would have been nice to have a real homecoming dance, but everyone did the best they could,” she said. “Prom was fun, though the hail was a nice touch, but we had a good year.”
Even though last year’s graduation was socially distanced and in July, Principal Jonathan Stribling was laser focused on having a ceremony in 2020, even while other schools did drive-throughs or virtual events.
“The Commencement ceremony for the Habersham Central Class of 2021 promises to be a memorable event for the graduates and their families,” Stribling said. “It will be an honor to present diplomas to these dynamic and deserving Raiders. The graduates comprising the Class of 2021 have worked years creating individual trajectories to achieve great successes. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for each of them.”
The Habersham County School system started a month later than expected and had three weeks of virtual learning in January when the staff was depleted by post-holiday COVID-19 surges. But once school returned to in-person learning, the numbers dropped until hitting zero cases for most of the last month. The school system was at two cases total out of more than 8,500 students and staff Thursday morning.
“I am looking forward to seeing the Class of 2021 graduate this Friday in a warm and sunny Raider Stadium,” Superintendent Matthew Cooper said as part of a letter to The Northeast Georgian. “Looking back on the school year now, I believe that our school system set itself apart from many others in its commitment to meeting the needs of our students and families.”
Before the graduation ceremony, Habersham Central’s second lifetime achievement award winner will be honored. Dr. Emily Foster Howell will be celebrated at a reception in the hours prior to her taking the stage to address the graduates.
Howell graduated from HCHS as valedictorian in 1996 and is a successful orthodontist and philanthropist in Jackson County.
Traffic control at graduation will be provided by the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
Beginning at 4:45 p.m., Camp Creek Rd. between Highway 197 and Owens Circle will be closed.
After graduation, the traffic plan will be:
• Vehicles leaving from the High School parking lot will be allowed to turn out of the parking lot going left or right. The vehicles that turn left toward the 4-way stop at Camp Creek and Highway 197 will only be permitted to turn right onto Camp Creek Road.
• Vehicles leaving from the front of the Ninth Grade Academy will only be permitted to turn left out of the Night Grade Academy onto Hwy 197 (heading toward Clarkesville).
• Vehicles leaving from behind the Ninth Grade Academy will only be permitted to turn left onto Owens Circle heading towards Camp Creek. Once at the intersection of Camp Creek and Owens Circle, vehicles will only be permitted to turn right (heading towards Cornelia).
Doster said she and her class will be looking forward, not back, after their last night together as one.
“The important thing is to not dwell on what we missed, but that the coming years are going to be the best years of our lives,” she said.