THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230021
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: LIFE IN THE PASSING LANE
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star has been following the paths
of four students in South Hampton Roads during their senior year in
high school. This is the last installment detailing their graduation
and hopes for the future.
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
THERE WERE no tears in Michelle Boyd's eyes as she stood in her white cap and gown, waiting with her friends to say goodbye to the biggest chapter, so far, in their lives.
Other students around her wept. Michelle just smiled big and gave out a few bear hugs.
When the time came to march to ``Pomp and Circumstance,'' she stepped lively in her new white shoes onto the football field where the graduation ceremony was held.
``I'm happy,'' she said. ``I might miss some people, but I'm happy.''
Michelle had looked forward to her graduation from Chesapeake's Deep Creek High for a long time. For her, the rite of passage meant new adult freedoms and the beginning of a bright future.
``I think some people were crying because they didn't know what they were going to be doing'' after high school, Michelle said.
That's not a problem for her. A star athlete on the girls basketball and track teams at Deep Creek for the past four years, she will go to Norfolk State University in the fall on a full scholarship for basketball and track.
``She's fortunate in that she knows where she's headed and what she's going to be doing,'' said Deep Creek women's basketball coach Otis Etheridge. ``She's worked hard.''
Michelle's mom always called her second child ``ready for the world'' - independent and eager to fly from the sheltered nest where she lives with her parents and six sisters.
``When she was growing up and had curfews and everything, she always wanted to do anything she wanted to do,'' said her mom, Pamela Boyd. ``I used to say, `When you graduate, your bags will be packed and by the door when you get home.'
``I never thought it would get here that quick. Thank God she's staying close, in case she ever has any trouble. I can find Norfolk State.''
Boyd and her husband, Walter, have asked only two things of Michelle when she goes to college: Get good grades and come home for church every first and fourth Sunday, when she is scheduled to sing with the choir.
``If you aren't rooted in Christ, anybody can turn your head,'' Pamela Boyd said.
Michelle has a strong sense of family - among her best girlfriends are two cousins. And she has a solid career goal: she wants to become a sports trainer for athletic teams.
She worries a little about the workload she will face in college. This last year of high school, it was tough trying to keep her grades up, land a spot in college, play sports and hold down a part-time job as a cashier at a supermarket.
She had to step down from the track team before the season ended, because there were too many things going on.
``I don't know how the work is going to be'' at Norfolk State, she said. ``It's going to be hard with my major and playing basketball.''
For the most part, however, she feels little anxiety about the future. She'll spend the summer working at the supermarket and getting in shape for basketball practice, which will start at Norfolk State in late July or early August. Her new coach has provided her with a workout schedule - 2-mile runs a couple times a week plus a series of drills.
Michelle says she'll be ready to face whatever comes when she finally leaves the Deep Creek neighborhood where she has spent her life.
It's as Deep Creek senior class president Tiffany L. Wilson said at the graduation: ``For every ending, there is a new beginning.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
by CNB