Archive
Subscribe
Weather
 |
|
 |
|
Three schools kick off local graduation season |
By Laurent
Bonczijk,
Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail Laurent at
lbonczijk@eaglenewspapers.com
|
St. Paul High School’s
gymnasium was filled with hundreds of people Friday night, but it
wasn’t to watch the Buckaroos state champion girls basketball team.
What drew the throng to the tiny high school gymnasium was the
graduation of the class of 2007.
Sixteen young men and women were honored during an almost two-hour
ceremony. School salutatorian Katelin Davidson and valedictorian
Erika Wilmes gave speeches that befit bright young women in their
position. They emphasized what drew the small group together and
memories that came from attending school together for many years.
Superintendent
Bruce Shull, who that morning had been forced to wear a plunger on
his head as a graduation prank, used his appearance behind the
microphone for some payback time. Out of his files came detention
slips, letters of apology and other clues of mischief of the
graduating students’ careers. All of the recollections were
supposedly anonymous, although the culprit could easily be discerned
as the red faced or laughing member of the group. There was the
young boy who had argued with the teacher about the importance of
decimals in math; he refused to redo his assignment for a few
digits.
The most memorable speaker of the evening will most likely be
remembered as Toody Byrd. Her opening words were in a Texas drawl
that set the tone for the rest of her speech. Wilmes was to blame
for her appearance that night, Byrd said, who found Wilmes’
invitation one of the most funny and articulate missives she had
ever received. She warned the audience that unlike George and Laura
Bush, hers was the real Texas accent.
To the graduates she said “if you think you are excited and scared
look at your parents, they are excited a little and scared a whole
lot,” she said mimicking a parent wringing his or her hands. They
wonder, “have we given you enough rope to burn your hands but not
hang yourself?” She concluded with some words of advice from
somebody who “remembered when grass was something you mowed,” and
software meant lingerie. “You are not immortal, you are not
indestructible and you are not infertile,” she said to laughter. And
pointing out Wilmes she said, “be careful what you ask for, because
you just might get it.”
Two other local high schools held commencement ceremonies Friday.
Veritas School graduated 13 students, all of which have been
accepted to attend college, said principal Brian Lynch. It was the
fourth graduation ceremony commencement for the small classical
Christian school. About 300 people attended.
Open Bible principal Frank Canepa presided over his tenth
graduation. He said that about 200 people attended the ceremony. The
commencement speaker, band teacher David Church, offered the
graduates a crystal ball. To each attendee a little pebble was given
with the name of student inscribed on it. During his speech Church
invited the audience to come and deposit the pebble in the student’s
bowl.
Canepa said the ceremony was a reminder of the Old Testament and of
the Israelites who had built a memorial of stones, the pebbles
representing the prayers and thoughts of the people for the
graduates as they go through life. |
|
From
May 30, 2007, Newberg Graphic
Click Here to Subscribe |
|
|
|
 |
|
