ROCKINGHAM — Graduating employees of Food Lion Store No. 1296 were honored Wednesday by their employer and other businesses in the Plaza North shopping center on U.S. 1.
Six of the store’s seven seniors received a rib-eye steak lunch from the Grille, with the grocery store chipping in on the rest of the meal, according to Food Lion Customer Service Manager Susan Freeman.
The graduates were: Annie Bartlett, Laylah Brown, Katelynn Gomez, Gunner Hvam, Taylor Oldham and Adam Stubbs. The store’s other senior employee, Maddisyn Diggs, was not present.
The store provided a cake and gave each graduate a sand bucket full of candy and a Food Lion gift card. There was also a drawing for a basketball goal, which was won by Bartlett.
Family Pharmacy gave out goodie bags and Blake Altman of Evolution Health Club donated a one-month membership, which includes all fitness classes and 24-hour access, valued at $75.
Freeman joked that they would need the gym membership after all the candy.
But that wasn’t all.
Freeman also played “Pomp and Circumstance” over the store’s PA system for the graduates parade around the front of the store as their names were called. Afterward, they threw their caps in the air standing in front of the store.
“We tried to make it as special as we could,” Freeman said. “They seemed to enjoy walking through the store in their cap and gowns. It was like a miniature graduation ceremony.”
