2011 Orcas High Commencement Ceremonies: Nostalgia, Humor and Advice

Dylan Holmes carries his cousin, Emily Bodenhamer, down the aisle towards commencement ceremonies today

Japanese graduation songs, memories of Marble Blast, Commencement walk partnerships and a duet valedictory were highlights of Orcas Island High School Graduation ceremonies 2011, held yesterday at the High School gym.

The Community Band joined the High School Band to play the graduation march, “Pomp and Circumstance” as Orcas High School Seniors filed into the gym from the north doors, proceeded on opposite sides of the gym to the center aisle where, in pairs they met up, gave a signature “salute” to each other, and then marched to the stage.

High School Principal/Superintendent Barbara Kline introduced the Class of 2011 to the guests, saying “We are honoring the graduates and the community that has given them so much support… those of us who have had the opportunity to raise our children here know how fortunate we are.”

She noted the students who had attended Orcas Schools for 12 years, and later in the ceremony, made note that Halley McCormick, Co-Valedictorian, had achieved National Merit Scholar status, the first Orcas High student to do so in Kline’s 21 years’ experience at Orcas schools.

Career/Tech Ed (CTE) woodshop teacher Mark Padbury told of the donation box made by his class for the Japanese earthquake/tsunami victims that has made the rounds throughout the community. He announced that the collected funds will go to an elementary school near the March 11 quake epicenter where 70 of 110 students were lost, and 10 of the 11 school teachers. ” Your message of support and love will make a difference,” he read from a letter written by singer Susan Osborn, who spends has spent a good portion of her year in Japan.

Padbury quoted from a song Japanese students sing at graduation ceremonies:

Suspended on the edge of time…
Companion travelers all are we
Learning in the school of life
Together through the years
Our time is now

Following scholarship awards by the Odd Fellows  and Islanders Bank, Kline noted other community scholarship awards given at the “Celebration of Success” the day before. She also recognized that many of the seniors had earned scholarships from the schools they plan to attend, including airfare to and from Florida for Jacqlynn Zier.

Senior Class President Iris Parker-Pavitt addressed the overflowing gym, saying, “We couldn’t be here without your support and nurturing love. We learned from you, because who else is there?”

Salutatorian Serena Sanders  spoke in verse  of her fellow Seniors and what they would miss about Orcas Island:

• Friends — our little high school family
• Orcas itself
• Hikes up Turtleback Mountain
• Fresh air and rocky beaches
• Being within 10 minutes of the ocean wherever they are on the island
• Dear Mom — “The Bomb”
• Knowing everyone we see — the Community

Co-Valedictorians Halley McCormick and Jacqlynn Zier, who both have attended Orcas Public Schools for 12 years (as have Parker-Pavitt and Sanders), reminisced about those years. The trip down memory lane led to their conclusions as seniors that “grades really matter” and “Senioritis is a real and debilitating illness.”

They then announced that their big dreams involved the community: serving as Co-Presidents of the United States in 2028, when they will reform education. Their platform will call for student rights to:

• procrastinate
• use Wikipedia
• wear sweatpants and t-shirts
• learn culinary arts so that every graduating senior “will know how to make a sandwich.”

They also would institute nationally what they have experienced on Orcas Island:

• dedicated teachers who care about their students
• affectionate and supportive parents “who have held us… and let us go”
• a close-knit community that “offers encouragement when we fail”

They concluded by saying they regard “the past we’ve been honored to have and the future we’ve earned.”

Commencement Speaker Janet Brownell told graduates of her own path from high school graduation, concluding, “Your record may be permanent, but your life is everchanging and full of possibilities.”

She then listed some advice to the graduates:

1. Get a passport and travel — and then “Come back to us — we love you —  and tell us about it
2. Stay kind
3. Give back your time to make life better for others
4. Learn to cook one thing really well
5. Look for a sense of humor in your life partner — “At 40, funny is the new sexy.”
6. If you keep a diary, know that someone will read it
7. Refuse to settle for mediocrity
8. Thank your teachers
9. “Love your parents as much as they love you… they are the reason you have life… period.”
10. Wherever you go, “go with all your heart. Stay hungry and stay foolish.”