By Adam Jennings

news@heraldsun.com; 419-6630

DURHAM — “Keep calm and carry on” were the words of wisdom Camelot Academy’s founder and director hoped to pass on to the school’s 100 students during their graduation ceremony Saturday morning.

The school’s graduation ceremony, which was held at Carolina Theatre, has a history of being a quirky, family oriented event. Students used skits to promote laughter and reinvent memories to recognize and honor themselves, but their graduating seniors in particular.

Thelma DeCarlo-Glynn, who founded Camelot in 1982, said that these five little words were not only a message to stay strong during challenging times, but to also remember to use the difficult times as learning experiences.

“If we keep calm and carry on, if we stay open to the learning, I do believe we reap the great reward of gaining some wisdom,” DeCarlo-Glynn said.

Following the founder’s opening remarks, students of all ages and grades participated in a three-part series of skits that represented each of the school’s graduating seniors.

During the skits, fellow students playing each of the seniors were granted one wish apiece from their fairy godmother. Although the fairy godmother helped each of the seniors with their dilemmas, she never actually granted them wishes. Instead, she simply proclaimed that each of them were in fact the three wishes; the three wishes of their teachers and their families.

The first part honored Alec Porter, who said during his senior speech that he would be attending N.C. State University in the fall and majoring in elementary education. Porter said he would miss Camelot, but looked forward to the independence brought on by college life.

“What I’ll miss most is the family environment since everybody here is so tightly knit and so nice. It’s just amazing,” Porter said. “But I am looking forward to gaining some independence and making some new friends.”

The next part of the performance honored Ian Reid, the school’s 2011 valedictorian, who will be attending UNC Asheville in the fall. Reid said, during a speech that the crowd found incredibly humorous, he was still unsure of what he would like to do after college, but he was certain that he would not be cutting off his long, dark, curly locks.

“Best-case scenario, I’ll make a few billion dollars by the time I’m 25, and worst-case, I’ll make a living selling raccoon pelts under an overpass,” Reid said. “Hopefully there’s something nice in between those two, but either way, I’m not cutting my hair.”

Reid went on to jokingly thank his family.

“I would like to thank my family for bringing me into this world, as well as for resisting the urge to take me out of it,” Reid said.

The final part of the performance honored international student Jung In Yoon, who planned to travel home to South Korea only a few hours after the ceremony. Yoon plans to translate Korean journals over the summer and return to the U.S. in the fall to attend American University in Washington, D.C.

“One of the most exciting parts of my life began when I came to Camelot,” Yoon said. “I participated in several activities such as soccer; I was the team captain this year. I also played basketball. Surprisingly, I was the team captain for basketball as well.”

Yoon said he would miss the family atmosphere of Camelot and insisted the school had the best teachers around.