Baylie's Graduation 2026

Baylie's graduation was a beautiful experience. I thought I would be sad, but I was mostly just happy. Baylie was selected as a speaker so we had to get there early - 10 a.m. for the 11:30 ceremony. We were glad we didn't have the really early or late slot.

With Dr. Kaaren Hampton - Irmo High School Principal

With Dr. Akil Ross - Lexington Richland School District 5 Superintendent

With Amy Mew - Drama Teacher

Because we had to get there early, we had to wait in line for an hour. While that was hot and hard on my knee, it meant we got really good seats. My sweet friend Yasmine Baltzegar was there to watch her daughter Isabella graduate. We made friends when our girls were in kindergarten together.

The Bailey's came to support Baylie.

Natalie, Alee, Jalen, Beth, David, Me

Baylie came over to say "hi" before the official walk in.

She was listed in the program in several different places.

Official walk in

Hi, Baylie!

Baylie's speech. The pictures Baylie took of the broadcast were better than the ones I took in the arena.

The graduation was on YouTube. Baylie’s speech is at 56 minutes. She was vulnerable and brave as she shared her struggles with mental illness. We were so proud of her. She got tons of compliments, some of which I'll share at the end of this post. You can watch her walk across the stage a little after 1:22.

Walking across the stage

Hugging Dr. Hampton

Hugging Dr. Ross

Not very many kids got hugs from the principal and the superintendent.

And just like that, it was done! And it was time for the pictures.

The Bailey's - Beth, Natalie and Alee

with Grant

with Jayden's sister

with Jayden

with Mr. Walker

with Ms. Clark and Mr. Hoodenpyle (Mr. H)

with Isabella

Here is a list of her graduation accolades.

• Stoles: yellow-National Honor Society, green-Fine Arts, blue-Health Science, white-Teacher Cadet (signed by her middle school students), black and white - hand-crafted by Leua Wilson (candy and money no longer present)
• Cords: red/yellow-Spanish Honor Society, pink-4 years of Music, purple-Arts & Humanities, yellow-Distinguised Honor Grad, blue/yellow-Thespian Society, blue/green-Teacher Cadet, maroon-Arts Honor Society (hope these are all right because she can't remember)
• Medallions: Distinguished Honor Graduate (top 5% of her class), College and Career Ready
• Scholarships: Full Tuition to Winthrop University, Palmetto Fellows (South Carolina’s premier merit-based program), Macgregor Presbyterian, Irmo High School Education Foundation, Rotary Club, and still interviewing/waiting to hear back on others  

On Saturday we had a joint Open House for Baylie and Olivia Chorey. I was glad we did it with the Choreys because they are laid back like us. We had popcorn and dirty sodas. 

Mary got these pictures of the decorations. Neither one of us took pictures during the party. We just enjoyed speaking with friends and family (Chorey family). So many people came and it was so nice to see the girls supported.

On Sunday we went to the open house for Alexa Alsup. It was lovely. 

It is surreal that this stage of Baylie's life is over. I don't think it will feel real until we drop her off at BYU. 

Here are some of the compliments she received on her speech. She's received many in person as well. It had quite an impact.