HVA speakers encourage taking risks, ‘reconstructing’
Hannah Devereaux, flashing a big smile while being congratulated by friend Madie Crawley, is a Hardin Valley Academy Class of 2019 graduate.
But she recalled how her grandmother stepped up and said, “‘You can only complain about something if you are making an active effort to fix it.’
“It was at that moment that I realized I was relying on other people to fix things for me,” added Barton, one of four graduating seniors to speak during HVA Commencement Thursday night, May 16, in Thompson-Boling Arena.
“… My grandmother taught me that when someone rips your foundation from underneath you, you have to build another one.”
Moreover, “She showed me ‘that fake friends believe in rumors, but real friends believe in you,’” Barton said.
She also thanked various teachers and administrators for “putting in that extra effort” and “seeing the potential in me that I didn’t even know I had.
“It helped me to reach and become the person I am today,” Barton added.
Hannah Elizabeth Greene spoke about “struggling” with her “fear of failing” to such as extent, “I even had a fear of failing giving this speech.”
A student/athlete at HVA, “Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s moving forward in the face of it. Pole vaulting is what taught me this valuable lesson,” she said. “The very nature of the sport is about failure.”
Greene reminded her fellow graduates that each had overcome some level of fear, fostering “learning and growing — and you made it here.”
Being “uncomfortable” often leads to personal growth, speaker Eliot Vinson Snyder said.
“We are terrified at rejection because we live for acceptance,” he said, then quoted an expression: “’if you live for people’s acceptance, you’ll die from their rejection.’
“… Would you rather live a comfortable life or a full one?” Snyder added. “If we live a comfortable life, we stay still and hope for the best to come, only to be saddened and live in regret and unanswered questions.
“If we live a full life, we bull-rush through the comfort to find real happiness through opportunity.”
His bottom line? “Discomfort is an inevitable feeling,” Snyder said. “… Right now we, the Class of 2019, are about to face some of the most uncomfortable situations in life. …”
Reminding her classmates they are part of “Generation Why,” Lena Sue Jerkins added, “We are at the time in our lives where we, ourselves, are constantly asking questions.
“… However, we do not only ask ‘why,’ we go a step further and ask, ‘why not?’”
Valedictorian Bryson Cade Gullett “took 14 Advanced Placement courses and 13 honors classes” while earning a 4.56 grade-point average, assistant principal Kellie Ivens announced before presenting Gullett a special medallion.
Salutatorian Shane Alden Embury, who earned a 4.46 GPA with 39.5 credits as announced by assistant principal Mike Wise, also was presented the Hawk Award.
This annual Commencement Night award goes to a senior “whose performance has exemplified the finest qualities of a Hardin Valley Academy student. … High standards of dependability, responsibility, citizenship, cheerfulness, moral character and academic performance,” principal Sallee Reynolds announced.
George Ashe, assistant principal and HVA athletic director, announced 87 graduates reached a GPA of at least 4.0, “which is outstanding.”
As for total scholarship dollars from the Class of 2019, Ashe announced it was $23,190,096.
Reynolds also recognized Ashe upon his upcoming retirement — serving his entire 26 years as an educator in the Knox County Schools system.
Coming with her from Knoxville West High School to help open HVA in August 2008, Ashe “has helped establish our traditions, our vision and our mission,” Reynolds said. “He has served as a role model for students and teachers.
“He has served the Hardin Valley community well.”
