{"id":12877,"date":"2014-06-19T14:41:13","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T14:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=12877"},"modified":"2014-06-19T14:41:13","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T14:41:13","slug":"blue-ridge-best-collects-diplomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/06\/19\/blue-ridge-best-collects-diplomas\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Ridge ‘best’ collects diplomas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seventy-three<\/a>

Seventy-three Blue Ridge graduates collected diplomas at commencement exercises held Saturday in the auditorium.<\/p><\/div>\n

BY STACI WILSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the high school halls, it has been said the Class of 2014 was the best to ever hit Blue Ridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome doubted it,\u201d Class President Morgan Gillespie said. \u201cI always believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although none of the graduates had cured a disease \u2013 as pointed out by Valedictorian Alex Dennis – he applauded his classmates\u2019 hard work and dedication. The 73 members of the \u201cbest\u201d class seated on the stage had \u201cmade it.\u201d Dennis said, \u201cThis has all come to an end. This is it. This is graduation. This is the end of high school \u2013 the end of a chapter of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStay dedicated, stay focused and keep going,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Salutatorian Leif-Axel Berg viewed his high school experience as more of a movie, rather than chapters in a book, titled \u201cThe Good, The Great and The Awesome.\u201d From the \u201cgood\u201d – classes and clubs; the \u201cgreat\u201d – arts education; and the \u201cawesome – school trips Berg paid tribute to his high school favorites.<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/a>

Blue Ridge graduate Kara Empett receives her diplomas from her father, Harold Empett, a member of the school board.<\/p><\/div>\n

Berg\u2019s parting advice combined wisdom from science teacher Ed Price (who had often repeated the Roger Miller lyrics \u201cYou Can\u2019t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd) and author John Green. \u201cUse common sense and don\u2019t forget to be awesome,\u201d he told the class.<\/p>\n

The Class of 2014 chose business teacher Brian Lewis as the keynote speaker for commencement exercises. \u201cLives change,\u201d he told the class. \u201cSome of you are unsure what you are going to do. Like I\u2019ve told you in Careers class, knowing what you don\u2019t want to do is as important as knowing what you want?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/a>

Blue Ridge\u2019s top two grads, Salutatorian Leif-Axel Berg and Valedictorian Alex Dennis revel in the moments following graduation.<\/p><\/div>\n

Principal Matthew Nebzydoski said, \u201cThe road to a diploma is not always a straight one,\u201d as he acknowledge some graduates sitting on the stage had also spoken to him about dropping out of school and thanked those students for their perseverance.<\/p>\n

He said he has seen this year\u2019s graduates performing charitable work that has made a difference in the community; tutoring students who were lagging behind in subjects; representing Blue Ridge well on the playing fields and in the arts \u2013 the Class of 2014 at its best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON In the high school halls, it has been said the Class of 2014 was the best to ever hit Blue Ridge. \u201cSome…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBlue Ridge 'best' collects diplomas - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/06\/19\/blue-ridge-best-collects-diplomas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Ridge 'best' collects diplomas - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY STACI WILSON In the high school halls, it has been said the Class of 2014 was the best to ever hit Blue Ridge. \u201cSome...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/06\/19\/blue-ridge-best-collects-diplomas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-19T14:41:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/WGSI_BR_2014-300x124.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/06\/19\/blue-ridge-best-collects-diplomas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/06\/19\/blue-ridge-best-collects-diplomas\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Ridge 'best' collects diplomas - 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