Seniors Bid Farewell to Dr. Pickering
| photo Hanna Martin
February 12, 2016
After five years as principal, Dr. Jay Pickering announced that he would be moving to the Little Rock School District to lead a new middle school in west Little Rock. On the morning of Feb. 12, his final day at Bryant, hundreds of seniors lined up outside Pickering’s office to shake his hand and bid farewell. The gathering was organized by SWARM on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
“I tweeted it as a joke,” senior SWARM leader Daniel Zamora said. “Then Charlie [Terry] texted me and he was like, ‘let’s really do this.’”
Pickering came prepared; he walked out of his office right before the bell rang for first period in his graduation robe and jeans. As seniors walked up to shake his hand, testing coordinator Evelyn Butler handed them small blue “diplomas” that read “It’s a great day to be a Bryant Hornet.”
Students waited in line to take pictures with Pickering well into first period.
“It’s really sad,” senior Thor Wilson said. “He was not just a huge deal for all of the teachers, he was a huge deal for all of the students. Every time I got sick and had to be in the hospital, this man would be there without a shadow of a doubt that day and he’d come see me. Every time. It saddens my heart to see him go.”
Despite a student body of approximately 2800, Pickering has managed to forge connections with many of the students.
“It’s a sad time for the school,” senior Matt Clanton said. “He’s kind of like the father I never had.”
Many seniors were happy to “graduate” this morning with Pickering to get a sense of closure with the principal they began high school with.
The line to shake Dr. Pickering’s hand reaches through the third floor of Building 10 as seniors Charlie Terry and Daniel Zarmoa film. “It’s so sad that at the real graduation ceremony I’m not going to be shaking his hand,” Zamora said. “That’s my boy.”
“I hate that he’s leaving, and I went because he stuck with me through high school, and anybody else handing me my diploma wouldn’t feel right,” senior Gabby Aguilar said.
However, senior SWARM leader Charles Terry does not have hard feelings about Pickering’s move.
“He’s got a good opportunity,” Terry said. “We came up here the other day to talk with him, we got a small interview for a surprise later in the year, but he’s got a great chance coming and he will be missed.”
