By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

For Kingwood Christian School valedictorian Josh Purvis, fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Fear is our brain’s way of identifying things about which we are ignorant,” Purvis said during the school’s graduation ceremony at Kingwood Church on May 22. “Success lies between fear and discovery. Fear is a good thing.”

Purvis was among 35 students who said their final farewell as students at KCS during the ceremony, which featured a slideshow displaying the students’ successes over the years and a message from Kingwood Church High School Student Ministries Pastor Jeremy Sims.

The event also featured a rose ceremony, during which each graduate presented a rose to their parents.

“No one here behind this podium tonight can tell us how to live our lives after today. We just have to get out and live,” Purvis said. “We are just going to have to figure it out as we go along.”

Fellow valedictorian Drew Waltz encouraged his classmates to work hard to achieve greatness in life after high school.

“Success will not be handed to us on a silver platter,” Waltz said. “We must work hard at all we do and put our faith in God.”

Salutatorians Ashley Foiles, Savannah Bayer and Taelar Holland also shared inspirational messages with the KCS class of 2014. Bayer said Kingwood helped to mold her into the young woman she is today.

“Here, I have been given the opportunity to be recognized for the things I didn’t even know were within me,” Bayer said. “I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend this school with this class.”

Holland and Foiles said they will never forget their time as students at Kingwood.

“When you stumble, you will get up eight more times with greater resolve and confidence than you had before,” Holland said. “God bless, and stay classy, class of 2014.”

“As we are about to go our separate ways, I want you to know that I love you all, and I expect the best out of the class of 2014,” Foiles said.