Mayor's letter to 2020 Graduates

Dear Pelahatchie High School and East Rankin Academy 2020 Seniors: Let me start off by saying, Whew! What a year you have gone through, but you made it! You have made it to the end of a life cycle and the beginning of another.  COVID-19 brought us pain, sorrow, sickness and death, yet one thing we know for sure it has shown how resilient you are to rise to the occasion. This class is an extraordinary class. You are our future and we believe in you!  Every end has a new beginning.  March might have been your last month in the school building, but your actual lesson starts today. You are embarking on a new journey where you set your own rules and guide yourself.  You must leave your comfort zone and live in the new reality.  However, God has not brought you this far to leave you. Proverbs : 5-6 [5] Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Every situation and every experience that you have gained through this COVID-19 Pandemic will enrich your life and give you life-long memories, good or bad.  It is said that there is no success without losses. We are in strange times, and with strange times comes different circumstances that I know the Class of 2020 is equipped to handle. Today, we say goodbye to everything that was familiar, everything that was comfortable, but we must remember when all else fails in life, we must trust God's plan.  Even before anything goes astray, putting our faith in the Lord is a great way to get the assurance we need to press onward. This is one of the most important things Christians can do. There is so much we do not know about how our lives are going to turn out, but God does know, and He can guide us forward on our journeys if we have faith in Him. The world will apply immense pressure, but you are diamond-- “A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure” and you have that ability and the strength to PUSH BACK! So as I end this message, I am going to leave you with something my grandmother left me when I graduated in 1998 from Pelahatchie High School, and I hope you carry it as I have carried it with me, “KEEP PUSHING, “KEEP PUSHING” – when you cannot see “KEEP PUSHING” – when no one else believes “KEEP PUSHING” – when you hear the word NO while pursuing your dream KEEP PUSHING BECAUSE THE ONLY PERSON THAT CAN STOP YOU……….IS YOU.”   Love, MAYOR RYSHONDA BEECHEM