Commencement speaker reflects on high school

Emily Goben
News/Opinion Editor

Senior Charlie Parmelee was selected by his classmates to be the commencement speaker at the Class of 2022 Graduation Ceremony.

“I remember when they sent the email out that we had to nominate people I was in THRIVE, and Sarah Jane Hornberger was like, ‘You should do it. You’d be perfect for it,’” Parmelee recalled.

“I didn’t think a lot of people knew who I was just because I was a transfer. I didn’t want to take it away from somebody who has been here the whole time,” Parmelee said.

Evidently, despite a few years away from the Webster Groves School District, Parmelee has made his mark on his classmates, and the school itself.
Upon coming back to Webster his sophomore year, Parmelee joined the basketball team.

“Coach (Justin) Mathes has been really helpful to me,” Parmelee said. “He brought me into basketball soon after I transferred to Webster, and they gave me my first real community of Webster people that I didn’t know because right after I transferred COVID hit.”

Parmelee eventually stopped playing high school basketball, but still played on a CYC team with his friends his senior year, where he made one of his favorite memories from his time in high school.

“The Big Ballers won our league championship. We beat a team from Chaminade and a team from SLUH back to back when we were the last seed,” Parmelee said.
Eventually, Parmelee’s passion changed to volleyball. Parmelee and fellow senior Andrew Wuebbeling serve as Varsity captains this year.

Athletics are not the only area in which Parmelee excels – he is also a member of National Honor Society, won a Diversity Office Leadership Award at his previous school and participates in Thrive.

“It’s been really cool because we get to see what people really do in the real world instead of just reading about it,” Parmelee explained.

Parmelee’s plan for next year is to attend The Ohio State University to major in computer science.

“I just feel like as a society, we’re moving more towards a lot of technology in our daily lives. I think there’ll be a lot of jobs in computer science,” Parmelee said.

Emily Goben – News/Opinion Editor This will be Emily Goben’s first year on ECHO staff, but she made several contributions while taking journalism class her sophomore year.

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