By Bru Nimmons

Staff Reporter

bnimmons@thepccourier.com

COUNTY — After months of unprecedented challenges and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the School District of Pickens County held its socially distant graduation ceremonies Friday in each of the four county high schools’ football stadiums.

Attendance was limited at the ceremonies, and both attendees and graduates were required to maintain social distance guidelines during the graduations.

The SDPC class of 2020 was forced to transition to online learning and missed out on many of the annual rites and senior privileges, such as prom, athletics and awards day, but still managed to cross the finish line with 1,121 graduates. All told, this year’s graduating class brought home nearly $17.5 million in scholarships, according to district officials.

Daniel High School graduated 270 seniors this year, with the outgoing class earning $6.1 worth of scholarships. The top Lions of the 2020 class were valedictorian Jennifer Yanlai Gao and salutatorian Anna Margaret Buck.

Easley High School had the largest graduating class in the county, graduating 392 seniors. Valedictorian Sunny Kakazu Ennis and salutatorian Carolyn Scott Greene led the way for the class, which earned $3,175,500 in scholarships.

In contrast to Easley, Liberty High School had the smallest group of graduates, with 166 students in the class of 2020. That small group earned big bucks toward college, with scholarships totaling $1,810,924, and was led by valedictorian Alexis Taylor Holliday and salutatorian Ethan Thomas Black.

Finally, Pickens High School’s class of 2020 came out as the top earners toward college scholarships. Valedictorian Abigail Elizabeth Broom and salutatorian Dalton Roper Moorrees earned top marks among the group of 293 seniors, which earned $6.4 million in scholarships.