May 24, 2015 It's graduation season: Members of Class of '15 talk about future plans Kelcie Pegher kpegher@capgaznews.com The ritual is upon us. High school graduations — many, many high school graduations — are being staged. And while we can't introduce you to everyone in the Class of 2015, we did catch up with four notable area graduates. They talked about their challenges at home and in school, their passions, hobbies and goals, their Instagram accounts, and their plans for college and the great beyond: The evening high school student Meade Evening High School senior Kimyata Evans, 19, wasn't sure if she was going to graduate. She was bullied throughout middle and high school, got into a fight, and was recommended to the evening high school program. "I always wanted to go to night school because my friends were in night school," Evans said. Since enrolling in evening high school in the 2013-14 school year, she said, her life has changed for the better. The classes are smaller, and teachers can focus more on their students. "They're hard on you, but they care about you," Evans said. Next spring, she'll begin at Anne Arundel Community College, studying to be a veterinarian. Working with animals has always been a passion. She's one of the seniors who will speak at Meade's graduation ceremony. Her speech will be about believing in yourself. As she said, "It's a privilege to graduate." The football player prom king It's been a good year for Desmond Beggarly. The senior at Glen Burnie High School was honored at a board meeting last week for twice winning the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year award. He was accepted to Princeton University but will attend the University of Maryland. Oh, he was named prom king, too. The teenager from Freetown Village became involved in the local Boys & Girls Club at a young age and joined an after-school robotics program. His mother was a teenage mom, and after he was born they went from shelter to shelter until they found a home. "It's been like a complete 360," said Beggarly, who plans to major in nuclear engineering. In his senior year, he and his friends have done a lot of hiking. They've been to Patapsco Valley State Park near Ellicott City, and recently went to Governor's Bridge in Bowie. "We find like the weirdest places," Beggarly said. As for his favorite app, he can't get enough of Instagram. He showed off a few selfies. And Facebook? "Nah, that's what my mom uses." The roving photographer Lexi Pline's resume is downright photogenic — she attended a photojournalism program last summer, and has won awards for her photography during her high school career. She first picked up a camera in middle school, after enrolling in the Bates Middle School Performance and Visual Arts program. She's among five in the first graduating class of Annapolis High School's Performance and Visual Arts program. She enjoyed drawing, but then realized the power of photography.

"I'm not a big fan of sitting and waiting for things to get done," Pline said. She began photographing dance recitals for the high school PVA program and will be focusing on photojournalism at Boston University next year. This year she has had a sidekick — a 1970s Hasselblad camera in a big clunky metal case. An avid sailor, she's taken the camera to Miami for a photo series on the sailors she meets. "I get to follow them and see their little slice of life," she said. As for college, Pline is looking forward to making new friends at Boston University, where she has already joined the sailing team. "I'm looking forward to being with a lot of like-minded people," she said. The transfer student Ropafadzo Shumba wasn't so sure about South River High School by the time she entered her sophomore year. She spent most of her youth in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where for years she was the only black student in her class. South River didn't seem like it would be much different. On her first day of school, she tried to talk to everyone — and ended up eating lunch alone. Then she noticed many of the transfer students could use a friend, so she helped to organize a club for them. Upperclassmen were paired with lowerclassmen to show them around. The school ended up being a good fit. "I feel like there's more of a global outlook," she said. Shumba, 18, emigrated from Zimbabwe with her mother and two brothers when she was 4. The family's goal was to go to a land with more opportunity. She'll be attending University of Maryland in the fall to major in public health and pre-med. Shumba hopes to return to Zimbabwe and open a school. "I really think that people are my passion."

Junior Staff at BGCAA