Students from Wayne, Duplin and Sampson and surrounding counties were among 344 students from across North Carolina who graduated this year as members of the residential Class of 2023 of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham.
They are:
Wayne County:
Keetonia Marie Artis, Southern Wayne High School
Quiyonna Sharie Artis, Southern Wayne High School
Melany Loa-Fonseca, Southern Wayne High School
Sereyah Lavone Raymond, Eastern Wayne High School
Michael Conner Vineyard, Wayne Preparatory Academy
Ivan Weng Zheng,Wayne School of Engineering
Duplin County:
Brendan Micajah Bullard, North Duplin Junior-Senior High School
Bradley Haygen Warren, North Duplin Junior-Senior High School
Sampson County:
Carter Clayborne Brewen, Clinton High School
RayShaun Lontrell Williams, Clinton High School
Lynda Rios, Midway High School
Johnston County:
Alex Key, Clayton High School
Kassidy Elizabeth Sauls, Clayton High School Johnston
Denver Eryan Huffman, Cleveland High School Johnston
Madeline Elizabeth Edge, Corinth Holders High School Johnston
Amelia Lynn Linton, Corinth Holders High School Johnston
Amari Tiana Worrell, Corinth Holders High School Johnston
John Jeffrey Fetkovich, Neuse Charter School Johnston
Lenoir County:
Nyla Gabrielle Parks, North Lenoir High School
Pitt County:
Ian Zentaro Branigan, D.H. Conley High School
Nicholas Aidan Cope, D.H. Conley High School
Leo Wang, D. H. Conley High School
Charles Stuart O’Connor Jr., Junius H. Rose High School
Chadwick McCrary Hobgood, South Central High School
Miles Devon Renix, South Central High School
Solomon Hidalgo, The Oakwood School
Ella Hartwell Holdeman, The Oakwood School
Evan Drake Kiess, The Oakwood School
Oziomachukwu Chidubem Obi, The Oakwood School
Wilson County:
Siani-Simone Bessie Ammons, Wilson Early College Academy
Beatrice Gale Penus Sangangbayan, Wilson Early College Academy
Students with high abilities in math and science began their studies at their local high school, then as sophomores applied to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, the selective world-class public high school with statewide reach.
Those accepted lived on the Durham campus in dormitories during their junior and senior years, taking high-level classes in not just science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but also in the humanities.
A second North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics campus opened this year in Morganton with an inaugural class of 150 juniors, who this fall will return as seniors and become the first graduating class to study on that campus.
Rising sophomores statewide may now apply for the residential program on either campus, or both, and/or to the NCSSM Online program. The state of North Carolina and private, philanthropic donors make all the programs possible at no cost to the students and their families for tuition, room, board, or books.
While the threat of mid-morning rain fast-forwarded the school’s 42nd Commencement ceremony from the traditional 10 a.m. start beneath the Watts Lawn oaks to an 8:30 a.m. start on Saturday, May 27, the graduates who came together for the final time to receive their diplomas finished the ceremony with only a few occasional cold specks of rain.
“Class of 2023, each of you have been given a gift: the opportunity to attend, and graduate from, the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics,” said commencement speaker Jabbar R. Bennett, a 1992 graduate of NCSSM who served this academic year as chair of NCSSM’s Board of Trustees.
“You have taken full advantage of everything it has to offer, from rigorous courses to exciting mentoring and research opportunities, and real-world experiences outside of the classroom. The faculty and staff here are truly concerned about your academic, personal, professional, and social development, [and] my hope, is that you will pay this forward, as you pursue your next academic challenge, professional goals and personal achievements.”
Siani-Simone Ammons, Class of 2023, from Elm City, delivered the student speech, mentioning nearby, off-campus Durham locations favored by students as she expressed her appreciation for her NCSSM experience.
The school’s most plentiful resource is the community, she said.
“I would love to thank the parents for being here, the champions who saw their babies dream of becoming scientists, mathematicians, astronauts, writers, historians, teachers, and nurturers of a more beautiful, immensely bright world,” Ammons continued. “I would like to thank the teachers, who witnessed that change and became mentors who spent hours grading and re-grading physics, biology, chemistry, history, and English assignments.
“I would like to thank the staff, especially folks in the [cafeteria] who were never afraid to smile, and the security guards who constantly re-gifted me keys after keys. Thank you, to the CCs (community coordinators) who planned hall events and listened to every heartbreak; thank you.”
Each year the graduating class of NCSSM provides a concentrated snapshot of the intellect found throughout North Carolina’s schools.
More than two-thirds of the state’s counties and every region in the state were represented by the graduating class, with the student body hailing from 178 rural, urban, and suburban high schools.
The school counts among its alumni scores of entrepreneurs, educators, physicians, researchers, teachers and some famous figures, such as NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who returned to Earth in February 2020 after setting the new record for continuous time in space by a woman aboard the International Space Station.
She has since been selected to fly near the moon on one of NASA’s Artemis missions.
It was the 42nd graduating class of the Durham-based residential program.
In addition, NCSSM offers opportunities to high-potential North Carolina students through NCSSM-Online, a program in which students remain at their home high schools through graduation, taking courses from NCSSM through the Internet, and through its NCSSM Connect courses taught by video conference, which allow advanced students in local schools to take classes taught remotely.
For more information visit http://ncssm.edu.