Daviess County High School graduated 383 students Saturday morning during their 104th commencement ceremony at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Out of those students, 48 were awarded the Career Technical Education (CTE) medal, 12 students graduated with their Associates of Arts or Science degree simultaneously through the Early College Academy, six students made the commitment to join the military and four students earned the distinction of Eagle Scout.
The overall grade point average (GPA) for the Class of 2019 was 3.235 with $12.3 million in scholarship money being offered.
DCHS Principal Matt Mason followed the choir’s performance of “A Million Dreams” by encouraging the senior class to never allow anyone else to get in the way of their own dreams.
“You have special gifts and talents you have yet to discover,” Mason said. “You haven’t dreamed your best dream yet. You haven’t sung your best song yet. You haven’t thought your best thought yet. You are a miracle looking for a place to happen.”
Mason continued to urge the class to be passionate, positive, full of energy and to take care of their own mental and physical health in order to better impact those around them.
One student who understands firsthand the necessity of taking care of one’s self before chasing after life’s goals is DCHS Honor Graduate Sydney Speed. At age 7, Speed was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes after complaining of an uncharacteristic lack of energy, thirst and headaches. After confirming her diagnosis at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Speed and her family quickly realized that diabetes was going to be part of their journey.
Speed learned how to self-inject her insulin using a bear named Rufus she received from Vanderbilt. With the help of her mother Deanna, Sydney created a routine of regularly checking her blood sugar levels and calculating her carbohydrates. Although there were bumps along the way, she never allowed diabetes to hold her back academically or athletically.
Throughout middle and high school, Sydney was an active member of the basketball and volleyball teams, as well as numerous academic clubs.
“She was always trying to do so much and I would try to stop her because I thought she was overwhelming herself,” Deanna said. “People think I was trying to push her, but I was actually trying to reign her back. She always wanted to do it all. And not just do it all, she wanted to lead it all. ‘I don’t want to just be in the club, I want to be the president.’ And she’s done it all — she really has. But it took a lot of late nights and sacrifices.”
With Sydney, those late nights and sacrifices could also mean a drop in her blood sugar, headaches and irritability, making it even more difficult to focus on the task at hand.
But focus is something she has had from very early on in her diagnosis when she used it to help determine her career path.
“Right after I was diagnosed and I figured out what it was, I mentored other families and played sports with other kids that had it [diabetes], and it just kind of morphed into something I wanted to do,” Sydney said. “I always knew that I wanted to help people that had diabetes and then one day I realized I could make a career out of it.”
From having an original article about her journey with diabetes published in the Pediatric Annals at 12-years-old to receiving the Otis Singletary Scholarship from the University of Kentucky, Sydney is putting the necessary steps in place to ensure she achieves each goal she sets.
When delivering her Honor Grad speech on Saturday morning, Sydney encouraged the 2019 senior class to do the same.
“We are each about to go our separate ways, and, regardless of what path we take, most of us will be in new locations surrounded by new people,” Sydney said. “With these opportunities, we will be starting over, leaving behind the identity we found at Daviess County. We should face these situations with confidence and fearlessness. We should be bold in who we are and not be afraid to be ourselves. We should let our personalities shine, because we each are our own independent and individually thinking person. Each of us should be true to ourselves instead of trying to fit in. Because, when we are true to ourselves, we will find the best friends, experience the most growth and become the impactful person we are each meant to be — all without trying to conform.”
