Big Walnut Class of 2012 receives diplomas on Saturday

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Man­ag­ing Editor

High School grad­u­a­tion is a once in a life­time event that caps a jour­ney from child­hood though early adult­hood. Dur­ing Saturday’s Big Wal­nut High School grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mony, dis­trict super­in­ten­dent Steve Mazzi reminded the grad­u­at­ing seniors that they began that jour­ney in 1999, when they were in Kindergarten.

“Their moth­ers and fathers remem­ber that day, and won­der where has the time gone.” Mazzi said to a stand­ing room only crowd at the high school sta­dium. “On those first days of school stu­dents were excited about rid­ing the bus. Today, as upper­class­man, rid­ing a bus to school is like get­ting a root canal.”

Mazzi went on to speak of the dif­fer­ent chal­lenges stu­dents met as they trav­eled through the grade lev­els; adding that grad­u­a­tion is the result of meet­ing those challenges.

Gen­eral Rose­crans Ele­men­tary School stu­dents pre­pared a list of Top 10 Pieces of Advice for Grad­u­at­ing Seniors, that Mazzi read in con­clud­ing his remarks.

• 10 — Wear clean underwear;

• 9 — Don’t for­get to eat your vegetables;

• 8 — Brush your hair before you go to bed so it’s not so hard to brush in the morning;

• 7 — Make your bed and clean your room, at least clean enough so you can walk through it;

• 6 — Tie your shoes;

• 5 — Go outside;

• 4 — Clean the liv­ing room;

• 3 — Get off the Wii and Xbox;

• 2 — Have a good day and we hope you miss your parents;

And the Num­ber One piece of advice that Rose­crans Ele­men­tary stu­dents had for 2012 Big Wal­nut High School grad­u­ates is: Get ready to start hav­ing a wife and other impor­tant stuff like food.

Big Wal­nut Board of Edu­ca­tion Vice-president Alli­son Fagan, intro­duced by her son Nate, a mem­ber of the class, was the keynote speaker.

Fagan said that it’s often noted the grad­u­a­tion is not an end­ing but a begin­ning; but she said for many par­ents in the audi­ence it was an end­ing of years of involve­ment with their children’s school life. Fagan encour­aged those par­ents to remain involved with the school com­mu­nity as their chil­dren move on.

Fagan also said that as edu­ca­tors, fam­ily mem­bers and friends, those sit­ting in the audi­ence watch­ing the grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mony were proud of the grad­u­at­ing seniors.

“You’ve learned about com­mu­nity spirit and Eagle pride, you’ve learned gen­eros­ity, you’ve held each other, you’ve ral­lied behind each other,” Fagan said. “You’ve become mem­bers of a fam­ily through hugs, high-fives, text mes­sages, and by let­ting some­one know you care.”

Not­ing that the life ahead holds both promise and more chal­lenges, Fagan wished the grad­u­ates joy in their jour­neys, and also that they suf­fer pain in just enough mea­sure to know their strength.

“May you walk your path, through the light and the dark­ness, with hope and faith and grace,” Fagan added. “Con­grat­u­la­tions to you all.”

The Big Wal­nut High School Class of 2012 Class Pres­i­dent is Con­nor Jones, the Class Vice Pres­i­dent is Con­nor Moran, the Class Sec­re­tary is Emily Asher and the Class Trea­surer is Sean McVay.

The 2012 Class Col­ors are black and white, the Class Flower is Bells of Ire­land, and the Class Song is Wavin’ Flag by K’naan

The Class of 2012 Motto is a Bill Keane quote:

Yes­ter­day is the past, tomor­row is the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.

Big Wal­nut High School Alma Mater

Through the years of deep devotion

We will ever loyal be

Love and cher­ish all our memories

Of our high school days with thee.

And the por­tals we’ll remember

Friends who made our lives sublime.

So Big Wal­nut, Alma Mater,

Praises be for­ever thine.

Posted by Gary Henery on Jun 6 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.