Generals Spotlights

The first semester of senior year can be challenging for many reasons. For the top students in the class of 2023, their official class rank depends on their GPA at the end of the first semester, so stakes are high for those wanting a high rank. The Valedictorian and Salutatorian are chosen based on these first semester rankings. 

A Valedictorian is given to the highest ranked student among those graduating from a senior class. A Salutatorian is the student that is ranked second highest in the graduating class. Receiving one of these titles after graduating high school is such a great accomplishment. 

Senior Josh Evans got the title of Valedictorian, and Senior Hayden Lorenz got the title of Salutation on February 16th. Both of them have many responsibilities and must achieve many things in order to stay at the top of their class.

“It means a lot to be the Valedictorian of my school because it really validated all of my hard work and late nights of doing homework throughout the past four years. It felt like it was actually worth it,” Evans said. 

Having someone to help and guide students through their four years of high school helps the way they process things they might not be sure of. Having encouragement makes students engage in more school activities.

“Sal to me is an accomplishment of hard work even though it wasn’t a goal I had set until more recently in my academic career. I would say my parents encouraged me to keep up with my work, take challenging classes, and earn good grades,” Lorenz said.

Underclassmen sometimes have the mindset thinking everything is going to go the way they want it to go. Although, students face many struggles that they have to face to become a more successful person. Forming a good relationship with teachers and students tends to help students get through the harder times. 

Bekki Benjamin, an English teacher at Wade Hampton, pushed Evans to be the best he could possibly be. Having a meaningful relationship with someone you know you can trust makes it easier to ask for help if you are struggling. 

“Like most high school students, Josh has had to struggle with a very tough schedule. Josh is a member of several clubs, Student Council, Co-Captain of the WHHS swim team, active in his church, and many other activities and obligations that keep him extremely busy. So, sometimes the time to do homework and study may seem overwhelming. Yet, he always gets everything completed, perfectly,” Benjamin said. 

In order to pass high school classes, students have to have the mindset of accomplishing schoolwork. Teachers are willing to help students with missing assignments and they are there to push to be successful in life. 

Rebecca Jopling, History teacher at Wade Hampton, never gave up on the academic and personal traits Lorenz’s came to show when Lorenz excelled in his classes. 

“Hayden accomplishes things in life because he sets goals and then manages his time and energy to achieve those goals. He is always striving to learn and apply all he learns to both class and life. While Hayden seeks to be successful, it is never at the expense of others. He is kind and helpful to his classmates and teachers. He was a joy to teach,” Jopling said.

Evans and Lorenz will have the honor of speaking at their commencement ceremony on June 1st at 8:00 am at the Bon Secours Arena. Evans and Lorenz will carry their titles with them on their next journeys to college.

Jonah Bishop Pirrone is a senior at Wade Hampton High School. He was just recently in Hulu’s new movie “Bruiser”, which has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hulu gave a description of the movie, “14-year-old Darious explores the boundaries of his manhood with Malcolm, his strict but loving father, and Porter, a charismatic drifter. When Darious learns Porter's true identity, he is thrust into a conflict between the two men.” The movie was released February 24th, 2023. 

In the film, Pirrone is playing Mike. He said, “I play one of the main characters, (Darius’) friends. His name is Mike. He’s kind of the bully in the town.” Pirrone has done a couple different acting gigs besides just this movie. 

He spoke about commercials here and there, and he talked about a Hallmark movie. Pirrone said, “There’s a Hallmark movie I’m in called Law of Attraction. And then there’s just a few little things here and there.” The Hallmark movie was released back in 2020 with Pirrone in the role of Marlon. 

Pirrone has always been interested in film. For years he did local theater and then did more professional local theater. “I stopped really doing theater as much, but I do film a lot more now,” Pirrone said. Not only does he do film, but Pirrone also does music and recordings. 

Gwyn Tankersley, a senior at WHHS, has known Jonah since freshman year. She said, “He told me he was an actor and has played in a few things. I know he does music recordings too.” Pirrone is a very well rounded person and will hopefully continue in the film world. 

He spoke about the industry and gave some insight on how he even got this role in the first place. Pirrone has representation in LA who send him auditions. 

He said, “We record [the auditions] at home and then we submit them to the casting directors and back to the agencies.” It takes upwards of four months to even hear back about auditions. Pirrone had even forgotten he did the audition until he heard back. 

The acting industry has a lot of ups and downs. The workdays are long (Pirrone said, “sunrise to sunset.”) and roles are not always guaranteed. Also at the time, Pirrone was not yet 18. Because of this, he had to go into a tent each day in order to fill the school hours. 

Even though there are a lot of unknowns in the industry, Jonah Bishop Pirrone continues to work for his spot in the filming world- and it’s paying off. 

The Wade Hampton boys and girls basketball teams secured region championships and number one seeds from the region and made it to the playoffs. The boys team made it to the third round of the playoffs, losing to Lancaster. The girls team is now in the Upper State championships. From both of these teams, Six players were voted to the Region 2-4A All-Region Teams. 

Junior Quinasia Abercombie was voted Player of the Year in the All-State girls basketball team.

“Being voted to an All region team feels like it's another great accomplishment and I'm very happy that I was voted,” Abercombie said.

Senior Nykel Franklin was voted Co-Player of the year in the All-State boys basketball team.

“There is no better feeling than being able to win with my teammates while accomplishing my personal goals,” Franklin said.

The two other girls on the basketball that got voted for the Region 2-4A All-Region Team were senior Mary Kate Giordano and Freshman Raegan Buff.

Giordano said, “Being voted All Region is a super rewarding feeling. I love to compete and the work that comes with it so when I achieved this award I know the work and dedication I put in paid off.”

“Getting this reward was such a great accomplishment to have but mainly using that to win the region as a team was more important to us as a whole,” Buff said.

There were also two other boys voted for the Region 2-4A All-Region Team, senior Cooper Tankersley and senior CJ Okadigwe. 

“I feel honored to accept this award but could not have done this without my team,” Tankersley said.

These basketball players are beyond thankful for being given this award. They could not have done it without the team. 

“It feels amazing to be voted for the All-Region team. I put in a lot of work these past couple years, especially last summer. I took the time out of my day to get up early in the morning and spend a couple of hours in the gym. It finally paid off,” Okadigwe said

These specific players took time out of their day to get better. They came together as a team to create greatness. The Generals will work the best they can to get even further next season.

Both the boys and girls varsity basketball teams won their region games, and they couldn't have done it without their coaches. Boys varsity head coach Reggie Choplin and Girls varsity head coach James Burrow were named Coaches of the Year by the South Carolina High School League. 

Choplin and Burrow then led their teams to the playoffs. The boys made it to the third round, and the girls are currently competing at the Upperstate level.

“Being voted Coach of the Year is more of a team honor than an individual honor. I think it shows how much other coaches in our region respect our team and how they play” Burrow said.

The WHHS basketball team is more than just a team, it is just like a family. If one another is down someone is always there to hype them up. We didn't make it past the third round of playoffs this year so next season they will try even harder to make it happen.