Scott Swanson
One of the largest classes in recent history said good-bye to Sweet Home High School on a warm and sunny Friday night, on the new artificial turf of Husky Field.
With the temperature hovering around 90 degrees at the start of the ceremony, it was a climate radically different from some recent commencements that were forced indoors by harsh, cold, wet weather.
A total of 179 graduates received their diplomas and words of wisdom from a variety of speakers, including 1997 graduate Dr. Krystina Tack, who received the 22nd High-Q Award presented by the school, which goes to graduates who have gone on to achieve outstanding things.
Graduate Matt Davis set the tone in welcoming the audience, noting that “this is a celebration, but it is a somber one. It is the ending of a 12-year chapter of our lives, and the beginning of a new one.”
Valedictorian Rebecca Wooley joked about her penchant for procrastination, including preparing her speech – “seriously, who ever expected me to be valedictorian?”) – and “ditsy” behavior “who else leaves their car idling for five hours in the school parking lot?
“If you know who my dad is, you should probably take a look at his reaction, as this is news to him.” She recalled some of the highlights of their high school years: almost beating the seniors as freshmen and sophomores during May Week and then sweeping their final two years to earn the Pride Trip and going “crazy” in Rowdy 40 student body sections at athletic events.
She thanked the staff, ranging from administrators to janitors, for “putting up with us when we stink up your classrooms with just horrible adolescent body odor” and “always being there to pick up after us, no matter the size of the mess.”
She ended her delivery by whipping out a selfie stick, announcing she was going to take one last photo, but discovered that the memory card might have been full.
Salutatorian Sarah Dunkley got her speech off to a witty start by asking the audience to turn away from her and look at the class motto plastered on the Husky Field grandstand.
“Now, if you could stay like that for the duration of my speech, that would be much appreciated,” she kidded.
Dunkley recalled their four years together, as unsure freshmen “terrified of Mrs. Munts,” the “blur” of sophomore year, “finally” starting to get the hang of things as juniors and then … “senioritis.”
She urged graduates “to go out and make new memories. Make memories so happy and so great that when we all meet again in 10 years, we will have lots to talk about.”
She also called on them to dare – “to do what you love, despite obstacles,” “to be different,” “ to be kind,” “to stand up for what you believe in,” and “to make the world a better place.
“Because daring and taking chances is how all great things come to be.”
Dunkley wound things up with a story about a group of turkeys who wanted to learn to fly. They got the “mightiest bird in the sky” to teach them and before long they were lifting off and landing.
“By the end of the day, everyone was able to fly and soar in the wind…
“Then they all walked home, just the way they had come.
“Our education here at Sweet Home has taught us how to fly. So please don’t leave here today, walking.”
Keynote speakers were senior class advisers and math teachers Melissa Klumph and Dan Tow.
Klumph told the class to be prepared for “a roller coaster ride of a life of highs and lows.”
She assured them that they would discover, through that process, their life’s calling, though “it probably will not be the path that you can predict right now.
“I never thought I would teach in Sweet Home for my career. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to become a teacher at all.
“I look back now and I can see that it all makes sense. That class in college that didn’t go so well, that relationship that didn’t work out, that other job I didn’t get. It all led me to here, and this is where I am supposed to be.”
Tow referred to the class motto, a Martin Luther King quotation that “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during challenge and controversy.”
Tow said King was talking about character and told graduates that “true character is often revealed when you are faced with difficult circumstances, annoying people, mean teachers, bad calls and situations that seem to be just plain unfair.
“Your character is who you are or the decisions you make when things are tough or when no one is looking or when you probably won’t get caught.”
He told the graduates they need to have a value system that dictates“a direction for your life” and surround themselves with people “who have similar values,” who can provide support and accountability, particularly when making “big decisions that really matter, like who you marry, how you treat people, how you raise your kids, knowing right from wrong.”
He also urged the class to “thank the people who have loved and supported and helped you get to tonight.”
Klumph presented outgoing schools Supt. Keith Winslow, who has been a teacher and administrator in the district for 35 years, with a plaque created by metal shop teacher Michael Tuller in recognition of his service to the district.
Tow presented the High Q award to Tack, who gave a short speech emphasizing how she was an average student in high school and how she was able to go from growing up in Sweet Home to earning a Ph.D in medical physics and serve as a professor, cancer researcher and department director in that field at Oregon Health Sciences University.
She urged graduates to “be proud of yourselves: and remember that “being from Sweet Home doesn’t make you anything negative. It certainly doesn’t make you average.” (See page 4 and sweethomenews.com for Tack’s entire speech).
Music for the evening was provided by the High School Band, which performed the national anthem, the processional of “Pomp and Circumstance,” the recessional, “Mars” from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst, and John Denver’s hit, “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” all directed by Elijah Heide.
The Chamber Choir, directed by Matthew Clark, performed “Omnia Sol (Let Your Heart be Staid)” by Z. Randall Stroope.
In introducing the graduating class, new Principal Ralph Brown noted that this year’s class has received some $953,328 in scholarship money for college – much of it coming from local donors. Counting military education, federal and state grants, the total for the Class of 2016 is close to $2 million, he said.
Brown praised the ceremony, saying that “I’ve been through a bunch of these before, and the kids who know me will tell you I don’t say stuff I don’t believe in. This is the classiest and best I’ve ever been a part of.”
He told graduates, “We hope that you will be happy and successful and always proud that you are a graduate of Sweet Home High School.”
Following the distribution of diplomas, graduating senior Tyler Plebuch prefaced the tossing of caps – the first time in years that graduates have been permitted to do so, and which they did with gusto – by noting that his class had “heart.”
“When we were willing to accept our shortcomings and see ourselves truthfully, we find the resolve to work in balance and our strengths are magnified.
“So as we travel down the paths of life, wherever it may take you, just remember to have and follow your heart and greatness will ensue.”