Virginia Gazette News |

Message to Lafayette High grads: ‘Don’t let your life story be autofilled’

Cheers erupted as students in purple and gold filed into William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena for Lafayette High School’s graduation ceremony on Friday.

Following the processional and the traditional strains of “Pomp and Circumstance,” Principal Paul A. Rice welcomed guests and the 292 graduating seniors.

“You’ve worked hard to achieve great things during your high school tenure,” Rice said, also thanking parents and family for their “partnership” and “support” of the graduates.

Thirty students within the graduating class received a total of more than $2.5 million in scholarships this year.

Rice recognized two students for completing the WJCC Honors Program, which requires the completion of Advanced Placement courses, a community service project and an honors project.

As president of Model UN, Emily Arden Reynolds founded the first UN high school conference in the area. Reynolds will attend William & Mary for a degree in government.

Fellow honors recipient and class president David Christian Schniepp combined his passion for STEM and filmmaking in order to produce a stop motion documentary on brown recluse spiders. Schniepp will go on to major in engineering at the University of Virginia.

Rice also recognized Gabriel Rosen-Turits as valedictorian with a 4.5 grade point average and Braden Lee as salutatorian with a 4.394 GPA.

Student commencement speaker Nina Laura Gokita recalled moving with her mom and brother from Japan after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. She felt homesick and missed her father, but was welcomed into the community “with open arms.”

“Some of you may be the first in your families to graduate high school or even go to college … but this is what makes our school, our school,” said Gokita, noting the diverse culture and history at Lafayette.

Moving on to a new chapter is intimidating, she continued, encouraging her fellow graduates to “dream big.”

“Hold those dreams dear to your heart and push yourself to achieve them,” Gokita said.

Regardless of what’s to come — college, a gap year, entering the workforce — you have a purpose, student commencement speaker JaZiyah McKenzie Davis told her peers.

“There is no such thing as a life that’s better than yours,” Davis continued, quoting singer J. Cole’s “Love Yourz.”

Joking that he has yet to write a memorable graduation speech, Rice said he turned to ChatGPT for inspiration, sharing the beginning of a graduation speech in wrestler Ric Flair and Yoda’s voices.

“Challenges face you will, fear leads to the dark side,” he said, evoking laughter from the graduates and their families.

Lafayette is one of the best high schools in Virginia because of the students, said Rice, before sharing some life lessons with the Class of 2024.

Rice encouraged the students of Lafayette to take accountability in all that they do, sharing his favorite quote: “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” He also reminded them to work hard, but to take care of themselves.

“You need to be the one who writes your life story,” Rice said, advising the graduating class to not let others control who they are. “Don’t let your life story be autofilled.”

Evelyn Davidson, ejwdavidson@gmail.com