High school seniors return to Brookwood School for final look back

Published 4:10 pm Monday, June 1, 2020

Dalton High School seniors who spent their formative years at Brookwood School returned to that elementary school on Friday for a final drive down memory lane.

Typically, the school invites graduating seniors back for a school walk-thru and other festivities, but large group gatherings aren’t permitted due to restrictions from the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, said Jessica Clark, Brookwood’s assistant principal. However, “we wanted to give them that final sendoff,” so Brookwood shifted the celebration to an outdoor parade of vehicles.

“It is pretty cool and very thoughtful of them to do this for us, taking into account everything we’ve gone through the past couple of months,” said Manuel Prieto, a member of the Class of 2020 and Brookwood alumnus. “It’s nice to come back and see your teachers appreciate how far you’ve come.”

Ansley Keylon and Hadley King, both members of the Class of 2020, met at Brookwood and remain friends.

“I love this, and it makes me feel very special,” Keylon said. “Everything is so difficult right now” due to the pandemic, but “so many people are putting so much into giving back to us.”

Celebrations like the senior drive-thru “add a sense of normalcy during a difficult time,” King seconded. “All of it is special for us.”

King still recalls her first day of kindergarten at Brookwood, she said with a chuckle. “It was scary, but it definitely got more comfortable.”

During her time at Brookwood, Keylon “loved all the festivals, being with friends, and all the field trips,” she said. The Tennessee Aquarium, for example, “is drilled into my mind.”

Their time at Brookwood coincided with the school shifting to a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) focus, which afforded “opportunities different from other schools,” she said. From planting a garden to establishing a greenhouse, “there were a lot of firsts for our class.”

Prieto is “very glad I (attended) Brookwood,” he said. “It was a very fun experience.”

Several former teachers returned to Brookwood on Friday to see the now-seniors they had taught, Clark said. “We wanted to make it as special as we could.”

Myra Owens, who now teaches at Chatsworth Elementary School, was among the educators who returned.

“They were the last group of fifth-graders I had before I went to Murray County Schools, so they have a special place in my heart,” Owens said. “I remember them as a great group of kids who were hard to say goodbye to, and if they want to see their teachers (one more time), we should be here.”

“Some look the same, and some I don’t even recognize, but it’s neat to see them having finished” their Dalton Public Schools education, she said. “It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Prieto will play soccer in college for the Campbell University Camels, and he can trace that back to his time at Brookwood, he said. “I’d play soccer on the playground every day.”

Keylon is leaning toward the University of Tennessee, where she plans to study speech pathology.

“I’ve always loved UT,” she said. “Go Vols.”

Education is also in her blood, with a grandmother and mother who are both teachers, but she’s unsure if she wants to teach in a classroom setting. Speech pathology offers options, however, and “I need options,” she said with a laugh. “I’m indecisive.”

King is positive she’ll major in interior design at the University of Kentucky.

“I’ve always been into interior design,” she said. “My grandfather is an architect, and my dad works in the architecture field.”

Her friend, Keylon, who knows her so well, certainly believes King made the right call for her major, noting, “That is so you.”

More than anything, Keylon will miss “the people” of Dalton Public Schools, she said. “I love all the people,” and she cited the annual Homecoming festivities as an example.

“With Homecoming, you feel very unified, (whether in) elementary, middle or high school,” she said. “Everyone wants the same thing.”

Teachers are another attraction for Dalton Public Schools, Prieto said. “We’re very blessed to have teachers who care, who build friendships with us, who want to see us grow and learn.”

Clark was a first-grade teacher when the Class of 2020 was at Brookwood, and “I’ve seen a couple go through today that I had in class,” she said. “I’m extremely proud, and it seems like yesterday they were in my class.”

Usually, the high school seniors battle the fifth-graders in a kickball game at Brookwood to end the year, and “the fifth-graders look forward to that, (as) do the seniors,” but that event was one of many lost to the pandemic, Clark lamented. Still, “we’re trying to make this as memorable as possible for them.”