By Rita Howell

High school seniors will receive diplomas this weekend in commencement ceremonies at North Delta School and South Panola High School.

At North Delta, 25 students will participate in graduation tonight at 7 in the school gym. Emily Ridge is valedictorian, and two students tied in the selection for salutatorian: Emilie Cannon and Taylor Herron. Clayton Cole is the class historian.

South Panola High School’s Class of 2009 includes about 255 seniors. They will receive their diplomas in a ceremony on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Tad Smith Coliseum on the campus at the University of Mississippi. Valedictorian is Jamie Battle. Timbrely Hines is salutatorian and Aevan Gibson is historian.

At North Panola High School, graduation is set for Wednesday, May 20 at 6 p.m. in the coliseum at Northwest Community College.

North Panola’s valedictorian is Keosha Moorehead. Salutatorian is Shanekia Rooks and historian is Shanita Smith.

Today at Northwest Community College, United States Congressman Travis Childers will be the keynote speaker at the school’s 93rd graduation exercises.

The ceremonies will be held at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the Howard Coliseum on the Senatobia campus. The 10 a.m. ceremony will be for graduates in the college’s career-technical programs, and the 3 p.m. ceremony will be for those in the academic programs

Today’s Panolian includes a special section saluting local graduates. See Section C.