The Green Machine of St. Charles High School took over the field of Regency Furniture Stadium Wednesday morning for the Class of 2023 graduation ceremony.
Maya Dixon leads the Spartan Class of 2023 as valedictorian, with Monet Fisette as the class salutatorian. Both plan to explore science majors in college this fall. Dixon will attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study physics. Fisette plans to study biology with a pre-medicine track and will attend the University of Notre Dame in the fall.
Dixon’s speech – one she said she has been dreading making since junior year when she realized she might nab the valedictorian spot – outlined how a speech should go, according to her often-cited source, Google.
“A speech has a good introduction, acknowledgments, quote or two, etcetera,” Dixon said, launching to her speech. She recalled freshmen year and how the Class of 2019 gave the younger students advice and warned them that the next four years would fly by. Dixon said the years did and now, the Class of 2023 is graduating. While Dixon said she is named after the much-quoted poet Maya Angelou, she ended her speech with a quote she keeps on a slip of paper in her phone case. It’s from a fortune cookie – “If you don’t have time to live your life now, when do you?” Those words resonate with Dixon, and she urged her fellow graduates to live their lives now, not wait for some magical time in the future.
St. Charles Principal Tammika Little carried on the message of living in the moment and being open to opportunities and change. While she encouraged the graduates to lean on the lessons they learned from parents and guardians, and remember those gained from teachers and friends, they must be ready to work hard, be kind, be able to learn from mistakes and be ready to improvise – be ready to “Say ‘Yes’ and …,” the mantra of the best improvisors. Little quoted late night talk show host and improver Stephen Colbert – “You are about to start the greatest improvisation of all,” Little quotes. “So, say yes. And if you’re lucky you’ll find people who say yes back.”
The 328 members of the St. Charles Class of 2023 brought in $28,054,035 in scholarship offers. That number is expected to rise as more offers come in. The CCPS Class of 2023 set a record this year by earning $195,618,144 in scholarship offers with more funds predicted to be added to that total in the coming weeks. CCPS will continue to hold graduation ceremonies through Friday, June 2. Maurice J. McDonough High School shares graduation day with St. Charles with the Rams ceremony set to begin at 1 p.m. Watch the ceremony live at www.ccboe.com.
About CCPS
Charles County Public Schools provides 27,598 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 37 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.
The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Kathy Kiessling, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (students) or Nikial M. Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (employees/ adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.
CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).