WWW.MERIDIANSTAR.COM • NEWTON COUNTY ACADEMY • GRADUATION 2020 • 57
JORDAN MASON
Salutatorian
It is crazy how fast this has flown by. When this school
year began, my biggest worry for school was getting
the parking spot I wanted. Now, I am about to be a
college student worried about trying to set up my
classes. Before we knew it, it was already over. I know
we missed a lot of things, not everyone got to play
their sport, some didn’t even get to play sports at
all. And honestly, watching Kemp hit baseballs into
the next town over was one of my favorite parts of
the year. But on the upside, the tennis team went
undefeated this season. Looking back on it, it really
makes me appreciate the time we spent together
even more, and that is something I’ll never take for
granted. I came to this school for reasons I do not
honestly remember, and like anyone who goes to a
new school, I was nervous. I only knew people from
my old school, or Dalton Sibley so, I really did not
have much to work with. But all of you welcomed me
and brought me into the Newton Academy family like I
had always been there. So, all I can say is thank you
for everything. You know they say, “You can choose
your friends, but you can’t choose family”, especially
when there are only 20 of them. My only regret is
that I hadn’t come sooner. Some of you I might see
tomorrow, some of you I might see in a couple of months, and some I might see years from now, or never again.
Despite that, I have at least one memory with each of you that I will be able to keep with me for the rest of my life. It
could be some life-changing advice you gave once, playing sports together, or something as simple as a day we spent
at lunch. No matter what it is, I always have it with me. Each of you has given me something I will always cherish, so
thank you. I never said they were all good memories. I know its cliché to finish on a quote, but I really couldn’t figure
out how to end this. So I’ll leave you with this, “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute
courage, that we move on to better things.” -Theodore Roosevelt. As we all move on to hopefully better things, I
encourage each of you to continue all your efforts and never give up on your dreams. Thank you, I will now leave it to
the person who is honestly the reason most of us made it to graduation, our valedictorian Hannah West.