FERRIDAY — The students in the second graduating class of Delta Charter School have one thing in common, said the salutatorian Haley Ray Sharp and valedictorian Peyton Mallory Roberson, they are driven to succeed.

At the graduation ceremony on Delta Charter’s football field Friday night, 36 students took their seats with heads held high in light of great achievements.

Delta Charter’s 2018 salutatorian Sharp has maintained a 96.095 average in all subjects. Not only is she an academic, said Delta Charter’s principal Jimmy Comeaux, she also has excelled in her softball, basketball and soccer career.

Sharp said the thing that drives her class to success is their competitive dispositions.

“As I looked back and reflected on our last four years, there is one trait that stood out among the others, our competitive nature,” Sharp said. “Whether it pertains to academics or athletics, we always find ourselves competing.”

Sharp said that drive can either make the world a better place or a worse one.

“Starting tomorrow, we have a choice as to how we will apply this competitive characteristic to our future,” Sharp said. “We could allow this quality to direct us down a path of selfish desires and unhealthy pride, doing nothing to impact this world around us. Or, we could do as Hebrews 12 states, ‘Let’s run with endurance the race God has set before us.’”

Delta Charter’s 2018 valedictorian Roberson has maintained a 96.381 average in all subjects, said assistant principal Monica Miller. Like Sharp, Roberson showcased her athletic ability on the softball and soccer teams. Roberson said the thing that drives her is not just the competition, but fear.

“One thing I see in all of us is our fear to fail,” Roberson said. “Life is easy when everything seems to be going great, but if we want to make an impact on the world we must do our very best in our darkest moments.”

Roberson said the inevitable failure her classmates will face at some point can tear them down or make them stronger.

“We’re all going to fail at some point in our lives,” Roberson said. “You can either fail forward or you can fail backward. It’s your choice. … Every one of us sitting in these chairs is fully capable of taking on the next chapter in our lives.”

As they are driven to succeed in life’s races, both Sharp and Roberson told their class that God has a distinct purpose for each one of them.

“We need to realize that this world needs what each one of us has to offer,” Sharp said.