Being First is a Class Act at GSMST’s Commencement Ceremony

Being the first in anything brings about great expectations. And the first class to graduate from the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, GSMST, delivered.

On Saturday, GSMST held its inaugural commencement ceremony for the class of 2011.  All of the 111 students in this historic charter class have been accepted into universities and colleges throughout the United States, and even internationally at Georgetown’s Qatar campus.  This class also has 62 honor graduates.

“I salute a class of future doctors, researchers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and the occasional math major,” said salutatorian Joshua Chang. “Congratulations class of 2011. We made it.”

Georgia Gwinnett College President Daniel Kaufman, the keynote speaker, thanked the graduates for being educational pioneers, saying they created the culture that defines GSMST.  

“You will be, like it or not, unique specimens that others will observe for the rest of your lives,” Kaufman said. “All of those that follow in the years and decades ahead will stand on your shoulders.”

 This GSMST class and the first charter graduating class of 2011 at GGC, Kaufman said, both started their educational journeys in 2007. He said GGC and GSMST share a remarkable amount of institutional DNA: Both are charters called upon to be leaders in information technology, and in other educational methods; and in the assessment of students’ learning to enhance education. Both schools, he said, have faculty and staff that pledge to nurture environments where creativity and innovation are the norm.

 “Our shared goal is to design programs of study that look beyond the classroom to the real world, Kaufman said. “Programs that ask students to apply their developing analytical skills and ethical judgment to significant problems in the world around them.”

 GSMST Principal Jeffrey A. Matthews thanked this class of firsts for their unwavering desire to successfully open GSMST doors. Choking up, Matthews said he would always be indebted to this class -- not just for being the first to walk through the school’s doors, but for the doors they are about to open as they “embark upon life journeys with infinite opportunities”.  

“Your handprints are literally on our cafeteria walls,” Matthews said. “But we will always see your lasting imprints throughout every corridor of the school that you helped to establish.”

Graduates and an estimated audience of 1,500 relatives, friends, teachers and supporters heard commencement addresses titled, “The Journey of the Class of 2011”. These addresses were given by graduating students, Kirsten Lim, Josh Holley, Yoonji Ahn and Nikhil Lakhanpal (who will attend college in Qatar). They spoke individually, but stood together on stage.

And the audience listened as graduates Melyssa Gayle and Max Moore sang their rendition of “For Good” from the musical “Wicked”.

Valedictorian Seong Park, in his address titled “On to the Next One” challenged this charter class to define their lives by the life and educational lessons learned at GSMST.

 Park received the very first diploma handed out, making him yet another pioneer.