Caps flew skyward in the Halifax County High School gym Friday night as first-year Principal Albert T. Randolph told the school's 379 graduating seniors that their "mission" had been accomplished.
Halifax County High School's commencement, witnessed by a packed house of parents in the gym, others that viewed the event on a television in the auditorium and a cable television audience over local cable channel 12, signaled the end of the sometimes arduous path of secondary education for the graduates.
Not only was Friday night filled with the excitement that goes along with graduation, it was a time to honor the school's Top Ten students.
Angela Suzanne Morris, daughter of Graham and Sandra Morris, was named as the class Valedictorian, the student with the top grade-point average.
Sejal Suresh Patel, son of Damu and Suresh Patel, was recognized as the Salutatorian, the student who possesses the second highest grade-point average.
Michael Bedford Priest, Sarah Katherine Marshall and Ashley Thomas Barker ranked third through fifth in the senior class.
The other students recognized as being in the Top Ten were, in order, Arthur Winston Reynolds Jr., Amanda Love Albert, Matthew Warren Hastings, Anna Michelle Lewis and Christy Dawn Clark.
Three students, Morris, Patel and Priest, shared the honor of giving the Commencement Address, with each student sharing his or her own special message.
"You should all feel a sense of accomplishment right now," Morris told her fellow graduates.
"You worked 13 long, hard years to get to where you are today and you should be proud of yourselves. Now is the time to reflect on what you've had to do to get to this point and to thank those who have helped you along the way."
Morris related a story about a young man named Kyle as it was told by a friend.
The morale of the story, Morris said, is "you never know whose life you might touch, whose world you may change with just a small gesture, so, always look for a purpose in life, pursue your dreams and good luck in all your future endeavors."
Patel also congratulated his fellow graduates.
"Congratulations graduates, on your victory of successfully completing 13 years of life lessons," Patel said as he concluded his remarks.
Patel noted as he started his speech that "we live in a time in which lists categorize everything," and told the audience "personally, I was sick of all these lists."
But the class Salutatorian came up with his own list - "The Top Ten Things I Learned At Halifax County High School."
Summarizing, Patel's list noted things such as ten percent of the people do 90 percent of the work; that people you least expect to be leaders will surprise you; that while school may have done away with winners and losers, life has not; and that most teachers really do care about their students.
Patel also noted such things as life is not divided into semesters; grades aren't everything and that sometimes people come into your life and you know right away they're meant to be there.
The Halifax County High School senior also told his peers to make every day count, remember the "Golden Rule," and remember that "life is not fair, get used to it."
Priest, a starter on the Halifax County High School baseball team which had seen its season conclude earlier Friday with a 4-0 loss to Lee-Davis High School in the state baseball tournament semifinals, told his fellow graduates "tonight marks the end of an era for each of us but we sit here as proof of hope for the future."
"Few things in life are certain," added Priest.
"Anything that you have done has been done before and there is always someone behind you who can do it better."
Priest told his peers, however, "that doesn't matter. What matters is that your heart is strong, your mind is sound, and that at every moment you are aware of who you are and what you are about."
Friday night's graduation ceremonies marked the end of what school officials have characterized as a very good school year.
There were 388 candidates for graduation and all but nine of the graduated.
That meant that 97.6 percent of the candidates for graduation received their diplomas.

"We didn't make the plays."
That, said second-year Comets head coach Kelvin Davis, is the bottom line to Halifax County's 4-0 loss to Lee-Davis High School of Richmond Friday in the semifinals of the Group AAA State Baseball Tournament at Colonial Heights.
"In the game of baseball, you've got to make the plays," Davis said.
"We didn't do it. That's the bottom line."
The Comets may not have made the plays on this particular day.
Nevertheless, it was a good season for Halifax County which finished 17-4 overall, won the Western District title and made it into the Final Four in its first appearance in the Group AAA State Baseball Tournament in six years.
"I can't say enough about these guys," Davis said.
"Since the start of the season they've give me everything they've got. We had a great year. We put Halifax County back on the map."
"We played a great ball club," continued Davis.
"I'm tickled to death to be in the situation we're in. We're in the Final Four of the state tournament. This is something that these guys have got to be proud of."
The Comets got a big performance out of junior hurler Justin King who held Lee-Davis, a team that had scored a total of 37 runs in their four previous games, to seven hits and one walk.
"King threw a great ball game," Davis said.
"You can't say enough about his performance. Every time he has gone out on the mound this season he's given us a good performance.
"He kept their hitters off balance and did everything we asked him to do," added Davis.
"It's upsetting to me as a coach and I know it's upsetting to him because he deserved a win in this game."
Unfortunately, the Comets didn't get that kind of performance out of the other facets of its game.
Halifax County failed to make the big plays on defense and found itself in the hole as a result of miscues.
The Comets opened with an error in the first inning but got out of the hole when the Confederates' Ryan Perkins hit a line shot to Justin Shepperd at first base who turned and tagged out leadoff batter Matt Driscoll for a double play to clear the bases.
Matt Edwards, the third Lee-Davis hitter, popped up to David Greene in right field to end the inning.
Halifax County dodged a big second-inning bullet when Lee-Davis' leadoff batter, Joe Meador, singled and the second batter, Joe Coffey, reached base on an error by Comets third baseman, Mike Priest.
Halifax County escaped again, however, when Lee-Davis' designated hitter, Matt Sluder, hit a grounder to Priest at third base and Priest made the double play by stepping on the bag to get the forceout on Meador and firing to Shepperd at first to retire Sluder.
The next batter, Lance Gray, popped up to Cole to end the inning.
"We got the breaks there," Davis pointed out.
"The kid hit a rocket back to Shepperd and fortunately, he was right there to make the play. We were fortunate to get that double play in the second inning. Again, we got a break."
Halifax County didn't escape trouble in the third inning.
Lee-Davis' Doug Wilberger smashed a double with one out, advanced to third base when Driscoll reached base on a fielder's choice and scored on a sacrifice fly by Perkins to put the Confederates up 1-0.
Lee-Davis went up 2-0 in the fourth inning when Coffey bounced a ball off of the wall in left field for a double with one out, moved to third on a sacrifice fly to deep center field by Sluder and scored on a two-out single by Gray.
The Confederates upped their cushion to 3-0 in the sixth inning with a leadoff single by Edwards and scored on a hit by Coffey that came after Coffey fouled off four two-strike pitches from King, the second of which struck him on the left knee and left him with a painful bruise.
Gray capped the scoring for the Confederates with a leadoff solo homer in the top of the seventh inning that made the score 4-0 and resulted in a curtain call for King.
Scott Adams came on relief and gave up two base hits with one out.
However, the Comets' defense held as Perkins fouled out to Conner and Edwards flied out to Hastings in left field to retire the side.
"It's breaks that win ball games sometimes," Davis said, "and that's what happened. They (Lee-Davis) got the breaks. We made some mistakes and every time we made a mistake they capitalized on it, especially in the later innings."
The usually potent Halifax County bats didn't produce the offensive firepower they had in recent games.
Halifax County had only four baserunners in the game and two hits, one each by Shepperd and Cole.
Yet, only two Comets batters went down on strikes at the hand of Lee-Davis hurler Jason Wawrzyniak.
Virtually every ball that the Comets put into play went directly into the hands of a Lee-Davis player.
The first of Halifax County's four baserunners was Hastings who walked with two out in the first inning. The second was Shepperd who had a leadoff single in the second inning.
Cole had a leadoff single in the fifth inning and Wawrzyniak hit Adam Conner with a pitch in the seventh inning to put Conner on the sacks.
It was in the second inning that the Comets had their best shot at plating a run.
After Shepperd's leadoff single, Adam Conner's sacrifice bunt moved Shepperd to second base.
Cole came up and blasted a long shot to deep left centerfield, a blast that appeared, for a moment, would drop for a hit.
But Meador, the Lee-Davis center fielder, tracked down the ball and made a great catch to rob Cole of a hit and the Comets of a run to get the second out of the inning.
Shepperd advanced to third on the play but was left stranded when Jonathan Wallace was called out on strikes to end the inning.
"We hit the ball well but we just hit it right at someone," Davis pointed out.
"The boy (Wawrzyniak) had a good off-speed pitch but I thought we hit the ball well. We just hit it right at somebody. That's just the breaks of baseball."

Tanya Raye Womack, 20, of 14612 Halifax Road, Java, died June 7 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Miss Womack was born in Halifax County on March 15, 1981, the daughter of James Howard Womack and Virginia Cole Walton. She attended First Baptist Church of Republican Grove.
Survivors include one son, Tristin Tyler Yesalavich of Republican Grove; her fiance, David Adam Yesalavich of Republican Grove; her mother and stepfather, Virginia Cole and Johnny Walton of Java; her father and stepmother, James Howard and Sheila Womack of Virgilina; two sisters, Karla Womack of Virginia Beach and Sheila Meadows of Java; stepsister, Crystal Crawford of Java; two stepbrothers, William Walton of Dry Fork and Eric Walton of Danville; her paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Womack of Scottsburg; her maternal grandmother, Patricia Cole of South Boston; three nieces, Kaitlin, Kalista Dawn and Isis Lorrin Meadows.

A funeral service was held June 10 at Second Baptist Church with the Revs. Shelton Miles and Jim Smith officiating. Burial was in Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the Halifax County Cancer Association, PO Box 875, South Boston, 24592.

Henry Paige Hudson, 72, of 11065 Bill Tuck Hwy., Virgilina, died June 8 at his home.
Mr. Hudson was born in Halifax County on April 25, 1929 to the late Giles Stover Hudson and Annie Gertrude Martin Griffin. He was an Army veteran and a member of Buffalo Baptist Tabernacle, Buffalo Junction.
His survivors include his wife: Arlene N. Hudson; son: Page Douglas Hudson Sr. and wife, Margie; two stepbrothers: Creston C. Griffin of South Boston and Bobby Edward Griffin of Virgilina; stepsister: Annie Lee "Cookie" Langford of Roxboro, NC; grandson: Page Douglas "P.D." Hudson Jr. of Clarksville and granddaughter: Candiss Hudson Hall of South Boston. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Connie Gayle Hudson.
A graveside service was held June 10 Buffalo Baptist Tabernacle cemetery with the Rev. Jack Stewart officiating.
The family requests that those wishing to give memorials to please consider Halifax Regional Hospice, 2204 Wilborn Ave., South Boston, VA 24592 or Halifax County Cancer Association, P.O. Box 875, South Boston, VA 24592.

Kenyetta Rashida Tipton, 25, of Richmond and formerly of South Boston, died June 6 at Richmond Community Hospital.
Ms. Tipton was born in Washington, DC on January 17, 1976.
Her survivors include her son: D'Andre Carpenter; mother: Andrea Cross of Richmond; father: W. Rock Tipton of Goldsboro, NC and maternal grandmother: Juanita Cross of Washington, D.C.
A funeral service will be held today, June 11 at 3 p.m. at Chiles Funeral Home Chapel, Richmond. A graveside service will be held Tuesday, June 12 at 2 p.m. at Rose Garden Cemetery in South Boston.

Phyllis C. Greenholt, 76, of 1131 Salishan Drive, Halifax, died June 9 at her home.
Mrs. Greenholt was born in Chicago, IL on September 29, 1924 to Lloyd and Gwendolyn Cowan. She was married to Walter H. Greenholt.
Her survivors include her husband; two daughters: Pamela Jane Armstrong of Wenonah, NJ and Wendy Fuller of South Boston; two grandsons: Lance Armstrong of State College, PA and Glen Armstrong of Havertown, PA; three great-grandsons and two brothers: Dr. Joseph Cowan and Vance Cowan of Tucson, AZ.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday, June 13 at 11:30 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church with the Rev. Andy Bawtree officiating.
In lieu of flowers please consider the Illinois College, 1101 West College Ave., Jacksonville, IL 62650-2299.