DHS Class of 2013 Graduates!

About 564 Duluth High School seniors received their diplomas, praise, and advice during graduation Thursday (May 23) at the Gwinnett Center Arena. The ceremony was the fifty-fourth annual commencement exercise for DHS.

Principal Anthony Smith recognized the class for its accomplishments. The Class of 2013 received more than $5 million in scholarships not including Hope scholarships, Smith said. The class included 125 honor graduates. “Eighty-five percent of you will enter post-secondary education, while 22 of you will begin service in our nation’s military.”

In addition, seniors accumulated tens of thousands of service hours within the school and the community, Smith said.

“This class has taken over 1,200 AP exams over the past four years, which translates into the equivalant of almost $375,000 in tuition costs saved,” Smith continued. “U.S. News and World Report has once again recognized your success in advanced course placement coursework by naming Duluth High School as one to the top schools in the nation.”

“And we could certainly go on and on,” he said. “And so seniors, on behalf of your family and friends, your school, and the entire Duluth community, let me say we are very proud of the Duluth High School Class of 2013. Congratulations!”

Gwinnett County Public Schools Supt./CEO J. Alvin Wilbanks, who followed Smith as a speaker, commented that this Duluth High School class and other GCPS classes graduating in 2013 are “among the most educated of any class ever.”

Other speakers included Gwinnett County Board of Education District 3 representative Dr. Mary Kay Murphy, and Duluth High School Teacher of the Year Erica Millette.

Salutatorian Nolan Graham, son of Greg and Jane Graham, noted that his mom was the 1986 DHS valedictorian. Both he and his mother are life-long residents of Duluth, he said, and he has lived his whole life in the same house.

In his address, Valedictorian John Kaffezakis challenged the class to ponder: “Why Are You Here?” Kaffezakis is the son of John and Becky Kaffezakis.

The ceremony concluded with graduates moving the tassels on their caps from the left to the right side. Many threw their hats up in the air in a liberating gesture.