STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
Office of the Governor

STATE COMMENDATION

WHEREAS, with a long history of academic excellence, Cleveland High School, accredited since 1922, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the institution's establishment on October 15; and

WHEREAS, having produced many National Merit finalists and semi-finalists, the school also has a long trdition of athletic excellence, producing state champion baseball, track, swimming, cheerleading, and softball programs, and championship-level football, basketball, and tennis programs; and 

WHEREAS, Cleveland High is the alma mater of legendary women's basketball coach Margaret Wade, who went 453-89 as coach of Cleveland High's girls basketball team; coached three national championship teams while at Delta State University; was among the first class of women inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame; and the Wade Trophy, presented annually to the nation's top women's collegiate basketball player is named in her honor; and

WHEREAS, the grand institution nurtured two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, Wirt Williams, and author Thomas Harris, who penned Silence of the Lambs; forged governmental leaders such as Legislators Charlie Capps and David Norquist and Congressman David Bowen; educated attorneys Bill Laforge, who is currently President of the American Bar Association, and Kay Cobb, who is currently the presiding justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court; and molded future education leadership in Kent Wyatt, who served as Delta State University's fifth president; and

WHEREAS, Cleveland High School is considered the "birthplace" of Delta State University, as the organizational movement which led to its opening occurred there; and

WHEREAS, Cleveland High, with its tradition of superior band, choral music, theater arts, and visual arts programs, has fostered civic responsibility through organizations  such as the Y-Teens, Interact Club, Key Club, and the National Honor Society; and

WHEREAS, graduates of Cleveland High have become standouts in the fields of agriculture, education, journalism, law, literature, national defense, music, politics, professional athletics, religion, and science; and some graduates have served at all levels in the various branches of the United States Armed Forces, from World War I to the current War on Terror; and

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Haley Barbour, Governor of the State of Mississippi, do hereby recognize and commend

Cleveland High School

on the celebration of 100 years of dedication to the field of education in the State of Mississippi, and extend my best wishes for many more years of success.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the Great Seal of the State of Mississippi to be affixed.

DONE in the City of Jackson on the thirty-first day of August in the year of our Lord, two thousand and six, and in the independence of the United States of America, the two hundred and thirty-first.

HALEY BARBOUR