Saturday, June 26, 2021 | The Newnan Times-Herald — 1C
Trinity Christian School
Student honors 2021
• Photos of 2021 graduation • A letter to seniors from head of school
Trinity Christian School Student Honors 2021 Published by The Newnan Times-Herald Saturday, June 26, 2021
Photos courtesy Trinity Christian School Trinity Christian School’s Valedictorian Morgan Ross, left, and Salutatorian John Geter.
Resilience, endurance and hope BY MATTHEW FOURMAN
Trinity Christian Valedictorian
Good evening seniors, and congratulations on making it to May 20, your graduation. Many people will describe this day as the end of an era, but I like to think about it as the beginning. It is often said that when one door is closed another opens. Well, I can’t think of a more fitting analogy for this day than that. We are leaving our childhood years behind us and beginning the journey through adulthood. One door closes, another opens. Looking back on our four years of high school, we’ve had some adventures to say the least. How about in ninth grade, we had the jumpy-house, packing peanut, billfaced fiasco of a prank at the old campus that got cleaned up and deflated before we could even enjoy it. Or how about us needing to completely up and move to a whole new building and re-learn all of our classrooms halfway through sophomore year. All the sports practices and the band recitals, the late nights, the early mornings. From the long walks from the parking lot to the short walks in the hallways. From Costco Thursday to weekly chapel. Every homework assignment, week-long break, study sesh, and Chick-fil-A run. All these things make up the story of your last four years, and, like it or not, whether you are hopeful or saddened, that story has come to an end, today, your graduation. However, I’m not a huge fan of this perspective. To me, while it is beneficial to learn from it, focusing too much on the past has the potential to distract you from what is to come. That’s why I said that I like to think of this as a beginning
of something better, a new chapter of your life, if you will. Now I’m not going to stand up here and promise y’all a perfect life, because we all know hard times are inevitable, they’re going to happen no matter how much we try to avoid them. No one’s really free from trials, you all know this even from your own lives. From the move to the new campus a little over two years ago to this pandemic that doesn’t seem to go away, we’ve all had our fair share of tribulation. I want to share with you an adversity from my life and how I found strength and confidence to endure through it. I was raised over in Fayetteville from birth up until 8th grade, attending the same school which sat on the same plot of land as my church so you can imagine my days became very orderly: to school and back Mondays through Fridays, a rest on Saturdays, and back to the school building for church Sunday morning and night. If you know me very well, you’ll know I’m a very orderly, detailed person (for those of you who are unaware, I’m going up to the cornfields of Ohio to study math in college so that should give you a pretty good picture of where my head’s at). Due to this orderliness God put inside me, I loved this routine… I adored knowing exactly what, where, and how my day would look week after week, month after month, year after year. The problem with this was that I put too much security in my circumstances that when disaster struck, as it did when my church split and we were forced to find a new school, I was lost. I didn’t know where to turn, I felt hopeless and unsure of everything. I felt like I had no purpose or grounding for my life as my support was pulled out from under me. If I learned one thing coming
out of this experience it’s that our foundation cannot be in our intellect, position, grades, athleticism, social status, just fill in the blank. Seniors, if you go into the future putting your whole weight on this earthly dust, when the trials of life come, like the foolish man of Matthew 7, your house will fall, like mine did in the summer of 2017. So the question that naturally follows is how do we fortify our houses? If you want to succeed in this next step of your life (I’m assuming you all want to), the foundation of your life’s house must be solid so you may bend and sway but not break at the trials of life. The easiest way I can see to secure your foundation is to have a defined sense of purpose. Now this is a very deep topic that has confused scientists and philosophers alike since the beginning of time, but us Christians have a very simple calling, to proclaim God’s love to those around us. Many verses speak to this, like 1 Peter 4:11 - “If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ”, So that’s the ultimate goal: for His name’s sake. The ultimate goal of all God’s dealings with you is that the name of Christ would be exalted in your life, and in your job, and in your family, and among your friendships, and everywhere you go this afternoon and tomorrow. Will Christ be exalted? Will people read the banner of Christ off your life? That’s why you exist. It’s here where I’m reminded of something my old pastor used to recite before each and every sermon: 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, “My speech and my preachContinued on page 3C...
Honors night photos are available for purchase online at photos.times-herald.com
An empathetic heart can do wonders for the world BY LILLIE PARKER
Trinity Christian Salutatorian
Hey guys! I’m so honored to be able to stand before you as a fellow graduate standing on the precipice of a future filled with opportunities. When I think of the future, it often scares me. We graduates of 2021 are getting ready to go on to a new phase in our lives, a whole new world. And the need for sound advice is needed more than ever at a time like this. We will receive many great gifts as we graduate but I’ve found that some of the best gifts are given in the form of advice. So, I offer some guidance from a young girl who knows only of the nature of herself and the peers around her. The first piece of advice is one of the most important aspects of life; how to love. In our sophomore year, we read (To Kill a Mockingbird). From this book I found the perfect way to explain love, through empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, though Atticus Finch explains it in his famous quote to climb into the skin of another and walk around in it. Empathy is a perspective change that can help you understand motives and emotions. Empathize with someone; see them and understand. It’ll change your life to make a habit of utilizing your empathy because it serves as a reminder that we are all human with not so different situations. From empathy, mercy and grace can grow. God instructs us to love Him and to love people. An empathetic heart can do wonders for
the world because it shows love in action and allows us to see people as God intended them. Walk around in someone else’s skin; listen intently to their story and know that they’ve lived a story that is not your own. My second piece of advice is to see the good in spite of bad situations. To fall into the trap of pessimism is one of the many dangers that we will face through our lives. We’ve seen it happen countless times, the naive idealist enters the real world to become a jaded cynic. However we should try to think about disillusionment in a more positive light because after all, “Better terrible truths than kind lies.” It would be foolish to believe that the world offers only joy, positivity, and justice because it is simply untrue, a kind lie, but a lie nonetheless. Yes, the world can be unkind, but that realization does not have to kill the idealist within. For example, from the cancelled senior events, to the life changing pandemics, and even the lack of AP Calc cinnamon rolls, this year has had those terrible truths. However, these terrible truths do not destroy the good in our senior year; the free period coffee runs, the ability to see friends in person for school, the memories from the failed senior prank. In a more spiritual sense, as Christians, we accept the harsh truth that we will face trials and tribulations, yet have faith that Christ will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. So let me leave you with one final thought; embrace adversity because in that you can find beauty.
DETERMINED. RESILIENT. UNFORGETTABLE.
Congratulations 2021
GRADUATES!
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