April 21, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Anna Chew is working on her address to the graduating class at DeKalb County High School but the 2020 Valedictorian has a little more time to prepare now that the scheduled May 15 commencement has been postponed due to COVID-19.
School administrators are hoping to reschedule the graduation ceremony possibly in June or July. By that time, Chew said she will be more than ready.
“I am already working on my speech here and there. I’ve got a lot of ideas”.
Chew, a gifted academic student and champion golfer, is disappointed in the way her senior year is ending. A view shared by her fellow classmates.
“I know I speak for the entire class when I say that we miss seeing everybody at school including our teachers. We miss having the routine and the school work but we miss a bunch of the fun things we do at the end of the year too like Tiger Time Out or final pep rallies. We have been going through this school system all of our lives and to think we don’t get to finish it out with the closure that everybody else gets is really sad,” said Chew.
As an athlete, Anna also has a special feeling for her friends who didn’t get a chance to fulfill their dreams during the various spring sporting events such as soccer, softball, baseball, and tennis.
“I know they are missing their senior seasons and that is really sad. It breaks my heart because I got to play my senior season as a golfer and I know I would have been heartbroken to have had that taken away from me. I know that is really hard for them”.
Although school has been closed for several weeks now, Anna has kept up her academic studies and is ready for graduation whenever it comes.
“Toward the end of the year we kind of chill out a little bit anyway. We don’t have as much school work but we’re still getting online stuff through Google Classroom and that is helping us stay on track. Thankfully we have a group of great teachers who are putting in a lot of extra work. I know this first hand because my mom is a teacher at Northside Elementary so I see behind the scenes what goes into that. We are so thankful for our teachers,” said Chew.
Anna will be furthering her education this fall at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville where she earned a golf scholarship. While she hasn’t made up her mind yet, Chew said she may go into the field of pre-pharmacy or pre-physical therapy.
Having already missed the prom, which was set for April 3 but had to be cancelled, Anna said she and her classmates are hoping somehow that can be re-rescheduled as well as the graduation.
“I know we all want graduation and prom. I would like to give a big shout out to the entire class of 2020. I know this is hard on all of us but we will get through it,” added Chew.
Anna is the daughter of Lori Chew and George Chew and granddaughter of Larry and Gail Redmon.