Salutatorian, Jessie Davis graduated from Valwood in May. She is attending the University of Georgia this fall and is the daughter of James and Belinda Davis. The Valwood family was pleased to hear her account of her early days at Valwood and the warm reception she received from our students. Below is an excerpt from her speech delivered at Valwood's graduation on May 30, 2009.

I started school at Valwood three years ago when my family made one of the biggest decisions of my life, moving to Valdosta, Georgia. At fifteen years old, uprooting and losing everything that was familiar to me was not on the top of my to do list. Nonetheless, one day before school started, I found myself unloading boxes in our new house. That night I probably slept a total of five minutes, and this was not due to the fact that I was sleeping on the floor because of our lack of furniture, but because I was restlessly thinking about my first day at Valwood. What would the students be like? Would I fit in? What would I do if they didn't like me?

My six o'clock alarm interrupted my sleepless night and signaled the inevitable. I got up, put on my Monday dress, and headed to Valwood. Sitting in the gym listening to the invocation I was terrified. I remember my first impressions of my class. I could not get over how cute everyone's southern accents were. In my blissful ignorance, I asked Lindsey if she was a new student. I thought that Jennifer was gothic because of her black hair and black dress, and saw Drew's fish tie and referred to him as the boy with the aquatic tie.

My first day at Valwood was full of similar mistakes. However, fitting into Valwood was a lot easier than I had expected. Being somewhat shy, I was pleasantly surprised when everyone seemed to go out of their way to get to know me. I had never been to a school where students were so friendly and accepting. Prior to coming to Valwood, I was in the same school for six years and can only say that I had two real friends. However, before I knew it, we were all sitting around the lunch table discussing how different Florida and Georgia were. Everyone was amazed that I had never eaten fried vegetables or grits, I thought that it snowed in Valdosta, and I thought that the jiffy store was a place where you bought peanut butter. Despite my culture shock, I found adjusting to Valwood to be much easier than I expected.