“It was 20 years ago today…”
June 9, 1992 marked the end of an era on multiple levels at South Gwinnett High School. For one thing, it marked the departure of the Class of 1992, a Class that was one of the better graduating classes the school had ever known. For another, it was the last group of students to attend who knew John Campbell as Principal. But a third era ended on that night that was less heralded until long after the Class of ‘92 had departed. It was the last South Gwinnett Senior Class to graduate in the city of Snellville.
Sure, the Class of 1991 has the official distinction of being the last class to graduate at South Gwinnett—you can thank Mother Nature for that. And my sister Janet’s class has an even better distinction—they were the last SGHS class which covered the entire Snellville city limits in 1981. But even though we graduated that night at First Baptist Church (just a 1/4 mile from the campus), we still graduated in the city limits. As fate would have it, moving indoors proved to be the right call—though we didn’t know it until after the ceremony was over.
That weekend was a very special weekend in the Walker household. My nephew, Andy Olson, was being baptized at our church on the Sunday before graduation. Also, 1992 marked the first time students who had an “A” in a class at South could skip the final exam. Since it was the first time, the rules were very loose (meaning it covered as many classes as you wanted it to), and I had the good fortune to be sitting with all A’s going into the final exams. So, my last day of classes unofficially was Thursday, June 4th. When my grandmother arrived that night from Cincinnati, I had the entire weekend to spend time with family and friends instead of having to worry about my exams.
Sunday afternoon was the Baccalaureate Service at First United Methodist Church. Though it was not a required event, most of the class attended. Holly Guy’s mother gave the opening address. Mark Smith and Faithanne Coleman were the speakers representing our class on that day. Mark was able to get through his address, though not without some emotions clearly flowing through his voice. Faithanne couldn’t even complete her address before being overcome by the moment. Luckily, Wendi Serafin stepped in to help complete the address. After the ceremony, we all gathered for pictures that we knew we couldn’t take at graduation.
On Tuesday morning, during the Graduation Rehearsal, we learned we would not graduate at the Football Stadium as we had hoped. It was rumored that Principal Krug was not happy with someone burning “’92” into the grass at South’s Football Stadium. Still, there was a threat of rain that night (as there had been for a few days) and Mr. Krug was taking no chances. Everyone was given 5 admission tickets for FBC Snellville. 5 tickets wasn’t going to cover my family, but lucky for me, I knew the Smith twins and Brian gave me an additional ticket for the ceremony.
A number of Seniors gathered at Jeff Cwiek’s house for a pre-graduation party that afternoon. (For the record, I did not partake of the Senior Punch.) They were even pretending to give away fake Graduation tickets as a protest; however, as I understood, no one was admitted inside FBC with a fake ticket. I left after about an hour there to go home and prepare for the ceremony.
My father, grandmother, and I arrived at FBC first before anyone else had arrived. After a quick Q&A with Mr. Krug himself, we realized the best seats in the house were in the upper right balcony (the graduates would be going from left to right in the diploma ceremony), so my dad and grandmother took up position in the front row of the balcony to wait for the rest of the family, while I moved into the old chapel to join my classmates marching into the chapel.
Since the chapel could not accommodate the Band, a recording of “Pomp and Circumstance” was played as we walked in. Because of my Honor Roll Academic Standing, I was among the first group of Students who marched in, and I got a Second row seat slightly off-center to the pulpit. I don’t remember sitting there, but the pics confirm this.
First up, was the Pledge of Allegiance. John Brown had the Honors, which caused some of us to worry. John was the kind of person to speak his mind, and he wasn’t shy about saying something controversial, especially when it came to Patriotic things. But John played it straight, and he later told me he understood the gravity of the moment and never considered any deviation from doing his job.
With the pledge out of the way, it was time for the addresses from members of the Senior class. Class President Josh Gunn talked about… socks. It was perfect Josh all the way. Made you laugh, made you think, and it was very colorful. After Josh came Kim Julian’s Salutatorian Address. Kim understood the moment, and kept her speech to under 3 minutes. It was a simple and perfect middle speech, even though I can barely remember it’s subject matter. Finally, Class Valedictorian Brent Bailey got his moment in the Spotlight. “Stand up, speak up, shut up.” And he lived up to those words.
Then it was time to get the diplomas. There are bad and good qualities about having a last name near the end of the alphabet. The bad quality is the fact that you have to wait so long to get your diploma. But the good aspect is the fact that once you get your diploma, you don’t wait very long for the rest of the names to be called before the whole exercise is over. It also was a unique ceremony. With many of my classmates sitting so close to the actual diploma exchange, it was impossible not to exchange high fives with old friends on the way towards the handshake with Principal Krug and getting the diploma. It may have been one of the only graduations in South’s history where you could do that. After the handshake, a thumbs-up to my family who were up in the balcony, and it was official: I was now a high school graduate. Of course, the ceremony was not without some of the people opening up an umbrella here and there and one beach ball flying around. The faculty didn’t exactly like that, but that was the worst anyone did that night.
Finally, after the singing of the alma mater hymn, the ceremony was over. Hugs, handshakes and hand slaps, and Jeff Cwiek carried me out of the church on his shoulders. Outside, we discovered that a thunderstorm had come through during the ceremony as evidenced by the damp concrete and squishy ground, and we would later find out that Parkview’s graduation was ruined by the downpour. But that did not put a damper on more celebrations with friends (I remember celebrating with another graduating Walker—Jason Walker), and then it was a 5-10 minute drive home for the after party.
Since that fateful night, 20 South Gwinnett graduations have come and gone. As far as I can tell, all of them have taken place up in Duluth at either the Gwinnett Civic Center or the Arena at Gwinnett Center, meaning that it takes nearly 30 minutes just to get back into South’s home turf. It is logistically unlikely (given the current situation in Snellville and the current size of South’s Graduating classes) that another class will ever get their diplomas in Snellville again. It makes the events of that night even more significant and special.
