Meet Rycor Coon, NWHS senior class president

A fi st-bumping farewell

At NWHS’ graduation ceremony, senior class president sits at the end of the row so he can bump fi sts with classmates passing by after receiving their diplomas

by CHRIS BURRITT

NW GREENSBORO – In a few weeks, Northwest Guilford High School senior class president Rycor Coon is headed to Provo, Utah, to start his freshman year at Brigham Young University. A year from now, he will be preparing to embark on a Mormon missionary trip somewhere in the world, though he’s not sure where.

So to make sure he bid farewell to his classmates, Coon secured an end seat during NWHS’ graduation ceremony. He bumped fists with them as they passed with their diplomas.

“This summer, I want to make sure I spend time with my friends,” Coon said in a recent interview. “I’m going to be pretty far away. I know I won’t be able to see them much after that.”

Coon has lived all of his 18 years in Oak Ridge, attending kindergarten at Oak Ridge Elementary before going to Northwest Guilford middle and high schools. He had never imagined spending most of his senior year study-

Photo courtesy of Rycor Coon NWHS senior class president Rycor Coon (left) and classmate Hana Ishige celebrate after their graduation ceremony. ing remotely, walking around his house listening to class on wireless headphones. “With everything changing so much, I learned to expect everything and nothing at the same time,” Coon said. The COVID-19 pandemic “created some bad situations, but it helped us to grow and improve so much.”

Near the end of the school year students, with the help of parents, planned private parties to replace prom, one of numerous senior traditions derailed by the pandemic.

“Students came together and said ‘we can have our own prom,’” he said. “We had the willingness to do things for ourselves.”

Last week Coon was among the first to receive his diploma during the graduation ceremony at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. When he returned to his seat, he convinced his friend, Cameron Copenhaver, to switch seats with him.

That put Coon right next to the aisle.

“I knew that if I were on the outside, every student would walk past me and I could give them all fist bumps,” he said.

Coon had been eager to return to the classroom in March. ... continued on p. 29

Congratulations

to the Class of 2021! Job well done!