The Grayson County High School graduating class of 2013 wrapped up their high school careers to waves of applause, tears, and laughs during the Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 19.
GCHS bid farewell to a total of 301 graduating seniors at the close of the 2012-2013 school year, and 265 seniors received their diplomas on the day of the Commencement Ceremony.
The ceremony opened with the traditional playing of “Pomp and Circumstance” - composed by Sir Edward Elgar and performed by GCHS Chorus Director, Teresa Jarboe - as the graduating seniors entered the GCHS Gymnasium and filed into their seats.
GCHS Principal Todd Johnston then welcomed all the graduates and their loved ones to the Commencement Ceremony and was followed, thereafter, by a light-hearted and humerous address by Class of 2013 President Katie Beeler.
Class of 2013 Graduates and twin brothers Shayne Bratcher and Storm Bratcher followed Beeler’s address with a musical performance of “See You When I See You,” written by Neil Thrasher, Wendell Mobley, and Tony Martin.
GCHS Senior Counselor Mona Higdon followed the Bratchers’ performance by introducing the top three percent of the Class of 2013, which included (in alphabetical order) Beeler, Kimberly Cannon, Dawn Dunaway, Blake Manion, Logan Nichols, Valedictorian Elizabeth Priddy, Rachel Woosley, Salutatorian and Class Secretary Jessika Young, and Leah Zurmehly.
Priddy then gave an emotional Valedictory Address, followed by the GCHS Chorus’s performance of “For Good” from the Broadway musical Wicked by Stephen Schwartz.
The Chorus’s performance was then followed by Young’s Salutatory Address and, thereafter, the presentation of the Class of 2013 and their diplomas, the latter of which were handed out by Grayson County School Superintendent Barry Anderson.
After the students accepted their diplomas, they were lead by Young in the Turning of the Class Rings and Senior Class Treasurer Taylor Higdon in the Turning of the Tassels.
The GCHS Commencement Ceremony closed with the Class of 2013’s being dismissed one final time by Johnston.























