By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
Seventeen students of the Beaufort County Educational Technology Center lined up to graduate Saturday morning during a ceremony at Beaufort County Community College.
This marked the second year that students of the Ed Tech Center graduated as a class rather than returning to their “feeder” schools for commencement exercises, according to Sarah Hodges, spokeswoman for Beaufort County Schools.
And the school year that just ended wrapped up the first full year of service for Ed Tech principal Will Bryant, Hodges said.
The ceremony was scheduled to get under way at 11 a.m. inside the BCCC auditorium.
The commencement address was to be given by John Conway, assistant superintendent of the school system.
The student address was to be given by Cornelius Keech, graduating Ed Tech senior.
A musical selection, “Butterfly, Fly Away,” was set to be performed by Natasha Shaffer, also a graduating Ed Tech senior.
A final musical selection, “God’s Time is the Right Time,” was scheduled to be performed by Coreisha Dixon, another of the graduating Ed Tech seniors.
According to a program handed out before the ceremony, the graduating seniors were: Bowen Brooks, Coreisha Dixon, Donterrio Evans, Jason Freeman, Lajontae Greene, Jessica Hardy, Cornelius Keech, Deandré Keyes, Telisha Moore, Jazmine Pender, Natasha Shaffer, Christian Smith, Quantel Smith, James Stevenson, Jaquann Thomas, Clinton Vann and Donnell Williams.
An entry on the county school system’s Web site reads that the mission of the Ed Tech center “is to provide each student the educational opportunity and support he or she needs to develop skills necessary to function socially, economically and politically as a responsible and contributing citizen in our communities. It is our goal to develop self-directed learners who can work cooperatively to become skillful decision makers capable of successfully navigating a rapidly changing country/world.”