Prince Avenue Christian School will hold the Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2020 on Friday, July 17th at 7:30 p.m. at the Prince Avenue Christian School football stadium. Dr. J. Josh Smith, senior pastor of Prince Avenue Baptist Church, will give the charge to graduates.
Pastor Josh began his ministry as senior pastor of PABC in 2018. Formerly, Josh was senior pastor of MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church in Irving, Texas since 2006. Pastor Josh has ministered in over twenty-five countries, worked with international students, and served as a missionary in central Europe. His greatest passion is the exaltation of Christ and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom to the ends of the earth through the ministry of the local church. Pastor Josh received his Bachelors in Cross-Cultural Studies from Liberty University, a Masters of Divinity from Southeastern Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Andrea, have four daughters and one son. He loves reading, music, collecting LP’s, spending time with family, and being outdoors.
This year’s Prince senior class is the largest graduating class in the history of PACS with seventy-six graduates twenty-three of which began their education at Prince in first grade. Seventy-five graduates were accepted to a collective 194 colleges and have been offered more than 1 million dollars worth of scholarship money to attend college next year. Additionally, one graduate plans to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
Eighty-eight percent of this year’s seniors took Dual Enrollment college classes and have 1,061 semester hours of college completed which amounts to 353 college classes. Sixty-nine percent of this year’s seniors took a collective total of eighty-two AP Classes. Many members of the Class of 2020 will begin college with almost enough hours to be classified as sophomores.
Seventy-five percent of this year’s graduating class participated in the international senior mission trip to Costa Rica while the rest of the class served in local missions. The Class of 2020 also includes many accomplished musicians, performers, and artists as well as eight athletes who signed to play sports at the college level.
Another highlight of the Prince graduation ceremony is the student speeches from the Valedictorian Jaden Drudge, Salutatorian Hunter Melton, and Epistle Award recipient Allie Carter.
In the event of inclement weather, the PACS graduation ceremony will be held in the PABC Worship Center with appropriate social distancing guidelines and live stream to other locations in the building. The ceremony can also be viewed on at www.PACSlive.com.
