CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Poca High School held its 90th commencement ceremony Wednesday night in Charleston at the Municipal Auditorium.
Principal Vic Donalson said that the class of 2015 is one that he will really miss.
“They were a fun class to be around,” Donalson said. “They didn’t cause any trouble, weren’t in any mischief; just a great group of kids. We’ll miss them.”
Donalson’s advice to his graduating class was to “do unto others as you’d have done unto you” and to be “the best person you can be.” Valedictorian Christian Buckely, the four-time Class AA state champion in the shot put and discus, said he would miss the camaraderie with his classmates but he was ready to continue his academic and athletic achievements at the University of Louisville.
“I’d love to compete in the NCAA Nationals as many times as I can while at Louisville,” Buckley said. “Academically, I’ll be studying bio-engineering at UL, and I hopefully can turn that into a graduate degree in bio-mechanical engineering.”
Buckley was named the class of 2015’s Most Valuable Dot. A Junior Olympics All-American, his 186 feet, 4 inches discus throw is a state record. His 59 feet, 7.5 inch shot put is a state meet record.
McKenzie Ball, who graduated with high honors, was ready to pursue a career as an engineer despite knowing the difficulty of the field.
“I’m going to Marshall after this and I’m going to major in engineering,” she said. “It’s going to be a hard field I know, but hopefully I can get through it and become an engineer.”
Trevor Landers, who was bound for WVSU’s dentistry program, said he would miss the fun he had with his class, and would always remember Poca’s memorable basketball season this past winter.
“I’ll miss all the fun and shenanigans we had; it’s been a thrill with this class,” Landers said. “The sports are a big part of our class because we were undefeated state champs.”
Another high honors graduate, Taylor Cox, was going to Alderson Broaddus in the fall to pursue a career as a physician’s assistant.
“It feels amazing to be graduating with this class. I’m really excited and so happy,” Cox said. “It’s really a thrill to be finished with high school and move on to college for bigger and better things.”
Mariah Cook and and Haley Fields joined Buckely as the trio of graduates who walked with highest honors, having a GPA of a 4.0 or more.