Furlow Charter School’s graduation ceremony was held at the Georgia Southwestern Storm Dome on May 16. Kennedy Nicole Wilson gave the salutatorian’s speech. “I am most excited to begin by expressing my gratitude and appreciation to my village, to my teachers, coaches and mentors, thank you.”
She was also grateful for her friends and classmates. “Thank you for providing me with a place where I have been smothered in unconditional love and unwavering support. Thank you for the laughs and the cries.”

Wilson also thanked family. “You have all shown what it means to show up for the people that you love. I am forever indebted to you.” She thanked her mom for her strength and sacrifices. “I wouldn’t be standing here without your love, your guidance and your selflessness.” She also thanked her sister for her friendship and inspiration. She also honored the journey of her classmates. “We established paths, realized passions. We tried, we failed, but we always tried again. Yes, it would have been easier to have just been told what we could do and who we should be, but then we wouldn’t have had the experience of discovering ourselves.”

Wilson charged her fellow graduates. “Sitting in front of me today are future photographers, biochemists, dance instructors, artists, psychologists, criminologists and athletes. You may be asking, how can I further my understanding of myself? Well, you must live and you must ask questions. This is the only way you will determine what it is you want to know.”
She also expressed her pride in the questions her class already had answered, reflected in her class’s achievement of the highest number of cords and honor graduates. “This is our day, a day to celebrate our successes, my peers, my friends, my fellow family. Congratulations to you all.”

Allyson Drinnon gave the valedictorian’s speech, starting with a parable about two falcons, who were both placed in a tree. One flew away, but the other refused to budge. No matter how it was coaxed to take flight, it refused, until the branch it rested on was cut. “The moral is, we have wings, but we often cling to what’s comfortable.” Drinnon described the school routine her fellow graduates found familiar, and how it had been interrupted by reminders of their future including SATs and FAFSA forms. She comforted her fellow students, telling them their accomplishments already secretly building their wing strength. “And now we’re ready to soar. Tonight is not just about cutting the branch. It’s about thanking everyone who helped build it. To the teachers who stayed after school patiently explaining concepts like the quadratic formula for the 17th time, your dedication truly made a difference. To every member of the school staff who opened doors early, stayed late, and quietly made sure everything works. Thank you for being the steady force behind our success.”