When the stands at Memorial Stadium fill with people to watch 561 seniors graduate from Madera South High School tonight, one set of parents who always told a little girl she could be whatever she wanted will watch her, now a young lady, walk on the stage bestowed with the highest honors.
Terrané Peterson, 18, the daughter of Terrance and Taneea Peterson, is ranked number one in her Class of 2014. With a grade point average of 4.58, Peterson has earned her top spot among the Stallion valedictorians. She said the distinction is simply the yield of the encouraging words and actions of people who surrounded her all her life.
“For as long as I can remember, they’ve always told me that I could do whatever I wanted and I could be whatever I wanted,” Peterson said. “My parents have been there every time I’ve wanted to take a class or do some club activity, they were like ‘Okay’ and they would just bend their schedules to fit me and my brothers and sisters. It was remarkable. They were always there to push me.”
She’s the second of five children in her family, which is made up of her siblings Christian Peterson, 21, Talaiya, 16, Terrance Jr., 14, and Choreyon, 11...