On Feb. 10, seniors participated in a ceremonial event, Senior Pinning. The goal of pinning is to celebrate the milestone and tradition of the senior class. Seniors are presented a pin to mark their achievements. The pin symbolizes the seniors’ eternal connection to Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School and their official inclusion into the graduating class.
“The biggest accomplishments I have succeeded with is just graduating itself,” said senior Melvin Dalton. “Chemistry was a hard task to go through, but I am looking forward to trying even harder and going out with a bang to go to EMU or MSU.”
Seniors have built a close relationship with their peers. Some have been together since ninth grade and the idea of not seeing their peers can be overwhelming.
“I feel like I’m finally getting a connection with my classmates,” said class vice president Erin Martin. “Someday, most of us won’t ever see each other again.”
Aside from parents pinning their son or daughter, seniors had a chance to present their parent with a cap and gown, photo dog tag. At that moment, the twelfth grader shared with the parent words from his or her heart. Many of the seniors were emotional as tears streamed down their face.
“There are somethings that me and my mother go through personal wise,” said senior Kayla Williams. “Her being there [at pinning] with me and me being able to give her my dog tag and sharing that emotional experience is amazing because she’s like a mom and a dad to me since my dad passed away.”
The pinning ceremony was especially rewarding for parents to see their child overcome high school challenges.
“My child has proved me wrong due to the fact that I didn’t think that he was going to reach his goals of academically achieving above average grades,” said parent Rose Love. “Just passing itself is a goal for me.”
As this year comes to a close, the community gets to see what type of individuals will emerge as graduates of King.
“Senior pinning was remarkable,” said assistant principal Lawrence Fitz. “We get to witness how much time and effort they [seniors] have put throughout every scene of their life.”
