Atmore Christian School teacher Robert Yoder told the school’s seven graduates Friday that their upcoming lives would be a journey of “small steps.”

“You don’t wake up one day and know how to play an instrument, or how to shoot a basketball, or how to paint a painting,” said Yoder, the speaker at ACS’s Friday graduation. “Small consistent efforts are going to give you the skills you need.”

Yoder also told the seniors that Friday’s speech was advice he and other teachers had given them throughout their school careers.

“As a teacher, if I haven’t taught you what you need to know by now, then I haven’t done a good job of teaching,” he said.

The seven seniors in the Class of 2014 at Atmore Christian School were Noah Coon, Karen Eiland, Joseph Ferrell, Charity Hall, Durrell Martin, Heather Rolin and Travis Smith. Martin was the class salutatorian, and Smith was the valedictorian.

In his valedictorian’s speech, Smith reminded his classmates to put their faith in God as they travel through the rest of their life journeys.

“As long as we remember to put our trust in God, we know he will lead us wherever we need to go,” he said.
Martin also touched on the subject of faith in his speech.

“It’s so nice to be able to come to a school where you are surrounded by godly teachers,” he said. “My challenge to each of you is to continue to serve God, in both the good times and in the bad times.”

During Friday’s ceremony, Rolin officially dedicated the 2013-14 yearbook to ACS teacher Jen Huber, who is moving to a new job in Kentucky. Coon welcomed the attendees to Friday’s graduation, Ferrell introduced the speaker and Eiland presented the class at the end of Friday’s ceremony.

The Class of 2014 chose 1 Timothy 6:12 to be its class Bible verse: “Fight the good fight for the truth. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.”