The 14 graduating seniors in the Class of 2021 at Lenoir County Learning Academy had to come up with a great many answers on the way to earning diplomas, but the educator who keynoted the commencement ceremony Wednesday asked them to ponder some important questions as they step out into the world.

Who do you want to be?

What are you doing to be that person?

How’s it working? Is it going well?

Do you have a plan?

Derrick Dalton, instructional coach at Drive Educational System, which supports teaching and learning at the school as well as its cultural environment, advised the graduates to take charge of their lives and methodically work at improvement, particularly if their past has the potential for holding them back.

Dalton said that, without his own effort, his past could have fashioned a very different future, a circumstance that students at LCPS’s alternative school may share with a man who’s now a highly educated professional and doctoral candidate.

“I grew up with adversity and challenges that I was faced with on a regular basis,” Dalton said. “I spent most of childhood instead of going to church on Sundays I was going to prison camps throughout North Carolina. That’s how I grew up.”

The son and grandson of convicted and incarcerated drug dealers, Dalton decided to break with his past and live his own life, not the life imposed on him by outside influences, whether they be family or friends or the media.

“You start from scratch today, but you have to have a plan in place,” he said. “We have to start asking ourselves questions.”

It’s a process, he told the graduates. “Be open to change. Don’t sit back and try to ride out whatever’s been going on in your life for the last 18 years because the same plan won’t work. You have to keep changing,” he said.

Change was in the air Wednesday morning during a picturesque graduation ceremony held on the grounds of the chapel at Kennedy Home, where Lenoir County Learning Academy is located. As she called the names of graduates, school counselor Diane Jones hinted at the next stop on their journey, heading to new jobs or enrolling in Lenoir Community College. Bouquets of balloons emblazoned with congratulatory messages highlighted the significance of the occasion, as did the small but enthusiastic audience.

“What a year it has been,” LCLA principal Stephanie Smith said to the Class of 2021, “unexpected, unprecedented, unrelenting, unusual, uncertain. It seemed like obstacle after obstacle. But you persevered, you stood the test of time, because you stayed the course. You stayed focused through it all because you are here today. I want you to take that persistence and determination with you the rest of your life to bring about positive life-changing experiences for you and your family.”

Members of the graduating class are Chelsea Brooke Albritton, Anthony Ray Blow, Donterrio J. Briggs-Hall, Demonsha M. Carr, Johnson Alexander Carter, Jasey Chapa, Me’Seekeya Clark, Kanajah N’Zuri Jena Edwards, Alvin Bernard Fisher, Emanuel Niguel Gonzalez, Alton Ray McKnight, Jashon Kyreek Mitchell, Michael Ray Stevens and Jermaine Maki Williams.

Eighth-grade students moved up to high school during the Rite of Passage that was incorporated into commencement are Tylan Santana Bryant, Brianna Denise Garner, Jade Marie Harris, Michael Jamal McGee, Izayah Deontae Moore, Roy Daniel Morris and Alexis Danyelle Shackleford.

Anthony Blow, who is headed to Lenoir Community College with an automotive mechanics certification, was recognized as an honor graduate.