Class of 2010 moves into the future

The SHS commencement ceremony for 2010 included looking in the rearview mirror as well as onto the road ahead for the 134-member class.

That spirit of remembrance and anticipation filled the air on Friday, June 4, and was reflected in the class motto (author unknown):

"Behind you are the shadows of what might have been, and ahead the image of what we hope to be."

With eight valedictorians and four salutatorians, speeches dominated the evening in the packed-to-the-rafters gymnasium.

Before students took to the stage, Principal Bob Macauley used one of his favorite quotes from Chuck Swindoll, which urges individuals to use a positive attitude in approaching life:

"The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes."

Two salutatorians, Janelle Hjelmstad and Rachel Lovegren, joined forces at the podium and performed a rap, much to the delight of the audience, ending with, "Now we're moving out/Following our dreams/ Taking life to a new level/ Defining the extreme."

A string of valedictorians followed, including Julia Rahm, headed to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, who spoke to the wider world and its challenges that Sisters graduates will face in the years ahead.

"The challenges we will face are enormous climate change, global poverty, environmental destruction, and economic failure," she said. "This is a crucial time for the understanding that we are all in this together, Americans, Europeans, Iraqis, Indians, Australians, Ugandans, Brazilians, the entire human race, because we are all humans, and it will take all of us to solve these world problems."

Drew Harrison reminisced a bit and concluded with the idea that over time he and his classmates will likely come to appreciate more and more the opportunities offered at Sisters High School.

"I think it will become more clear to us just how exceptional this place is as we step out into the world, away from the warm microcosm of Sisters," he

said.

A verse from the poet T.S. Eliot says this best: "We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where we started/ And know the place for the first

time."

Members of the class

performed the song "Seasons of Love" from the Broadway musical "Rent" before the graduating class carried out the tradition of giving roses to their mothers. A crowd favorite, the viewing of a slideshow of "then and now" photos preceded the delivery of diplomas by Macauley and school board vice chairman Glen Lasken.

The eruption of cheers and the flying of mortarboards upon Principal Macauley's presentation of the class of 2010 began the real celebrating, and the graduates strutted out to the next phase of life with the Outlaws fight song ringing in their

ears.