My name is Ian Britton, and I graduated as the valedictorian from Summerville High School in 2012. Summerville was my first experience at a public school after being homeschooled, and it became a place of growth and joy. I arrived with no friends or expectations but left with lifelong connections and an abundance of cherished memories.
I was deeply involved in the arts. As a member of Connections Academy, I performed in 1-2 school plays each year, including Oklahoma!, Bye Bye Birdie, The Nutcracker, and lead roles in Guys and Dolls and Thoroughly Modern Millie. I was also part of the Jazz@8 group starting in my sophomore year. One of our highlights was performing at the lighting of the Capitol Christmas tree in Washington, D.C., along with many other festivals, competitions, and events.
In academics, I worked hard and was fortunate to be surrounded by supportive friends (and total nerds) like Alani Warden, Mikayla Murry, Makena Clark, Kyler Klingberg, Tonysha (Charlotte) Hadden, Rebekah O’Kelley, Katelin Quaglino, and Katie Harford who helped me succeed.
Though I spent one season on the soccer team, my passion was more in the arts than athletics.
What stands out most to me about Summerville was the people. If memory serves, there were 144 students in the class of 2012, and over a decade later I could probably tell you a meaningful story about most of them. A few memories stick out.
There was the time a group of us, led by teacher Jeff Johnson, dressed in all black with ninja masks and plastic swords, ran around the school doing “parkour.”- The infamous cardboard car race in Mr. Hohn’s physics class where Aaron Cook and I built a 9-foot-long Batmobile complete with cardboard cylindrical bearings.
- There was a small, memorable prank pulled by Max Kohl on the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
- The time Sam Kohl and I ate enough fried chicken to make it still sound gross.
- There was the time a Jazz@8 trip returned on the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance. The dance had been canceled due to a snowstorm, but the DJ didn’t get the memo. So, the choir enjoyed a private dance party all to ourselves.
- There was also the time a congressman arrived late to the school, and Vice Principal Diana Harford called me up to perform magic tricks to entertain everyone.
- When we went to school on a snow day and built an 11-foot tall “snow bear.”
- There were countless memories spent in the theater with the cast—singing, cracking jokes, and just enjoying each other’s company.
- There were the dozens of times Avery Jones scared me silent, quickly driving Old Ward’s Ferry Road in his truck late at night.
- There was so much singing.
- And who could forget the day Sean Figley spotted a lonely freshman who didn’t know anyone, eating alone under a tree and invited him to sit with him in the cafeteria.
I don’t want to paint too rosy a picture. High school wasn’t easy. We worked hard. We cried. Maybe I suffer from a little amnesia but when I think about my time at Summerville, the good strongly outweighs everything else. I was truly blessed by the community, the faculty, and my fellow students.