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Linton's Class of 2009 takes time to remember: 82 seniors turn tassels while recalling lost classmate
For Linton-Stockton High School's 82 graduates, Saturday's commencement was, like so many graduations, a day of bittersweet extremes.
Joy hung in the air like the riot of colorful tangled Silly String and mortarboards which flew toward the gym ceiling with a happy collective shout as soon as the Class of 2009 turned their tassels, led by Class President Elizabeth Carpenter.
Sadness, however, came at the prospect of goodbyes to be said as the 1:30 p.m. ceremony concluded -- and a goodbye already spoken, far too soon.
It sat in the empty chair and folded cap and gown near the stage that memorialized the 83rd member of the class, Eric Anderson, who died in Riley Hospital Nov. 23, 2007.
Anderson, a 16-year-old junior, was a member of the school's National Honor Society, a member of the high school band and had attended NASA's Space Camp. Classmates recalled the fallen teen as a star student and a good friend.
Anderson's memory also lingered in the silence as classmates took a special moment of quiet to remember their friend.
The school's two valedictorians, Jordan Tharp and Allison Young and salutatorian Valerie Kramer also all recalled their absent classmate briefly in their commencement speeches.
"It is with great sorrow that we see the empty chair, with the cap and gown left there for Eric," Kramer said. "Although Eric is no longer visibly with us, he is still in our hearts and memories."
Young added "He still lives with us," also noting the loss of longtime high school art teacher Dale French in 2008.
Those recollections -- and the countless others which create 13 years of school spent together - fueled all three speeches, while classmates sat, their own memories playing out in the mixed emotions on their faces.
"Regardless of the source, the four years of high school marked memories which we will carry with us for a lifetime," Tharp said.
And those memories were rich and vivid. Young listed only a few, from a projector named "Elmo" failing noisily and finally, to the regional title won by Linton's football team and the highest score the school's academic team ever posted in the Knowledge Master Open.
"Voices changed, the boys grew taller than the girls, and hormones hit," Kramer said with a laugh.
Now, the classmates were young adults, ready to take the next steps on 82 distinct and separate journeys. But for that 1:30 p.m. ceremony, one final time they were all together, the boys clad in blue caps and gowns while the girls dressed in red, welcomed Carpenter.
Music hung in the air through the event, as several seniors joined the high school choir in performing "For Good" conducted by chorus teacher Laura Fischer. The Linton-Stockton High School Band, directed by Michael Puckett, performed for the processional, recessional and "Hymn of the Fallen."
The future beckoned, but the past also deserved to be remembered -- and those without whom the students might not have been there deserved to be thanked.
"It is through your parents and teachers that you stand so tall," said Superintendent Ron Bush. "They are the basis for your future...they had given you the best of starts."
Class members agreed, and thanked those watching in the stands, and those who had helped along the way.
"We could not have made this journey on our own," Young said.
Kramer concurred, adding "I hope that in some small way, we are able to give something back."
Tharp told his fellow grads "The road to success is always under construction. Wherever you go, and whatever you do, don't stop believing."
Soon enough, one by one, they would march across the stage, each receiving a diploma from Bush, Principal Nick Karazsia and Assistant Principal Les Newman. Newman is assisting in his last graduation this year before retirement.
Just prior to handing out the sheepskins, Karazsia recognized his second-in-command, and provided the class with a few laughs as he read excuses -- names changed to protect the innocent -- Newman had been provided by parents (and perhaps a few creative students) over the years.
One note asked that a student be "excused for being; it was his father's fault." Another, from a pupil, informed the educator that he'd missed class because he expected to be sick. Thankfully, he added, he wasn't.
Soon enough, there was no more need for excuses, and no more school days to be had. The future awaited for each of them, whether college, the military, marriage or work.
"Whatever you decide to do, and wherever you go, you go with our blessings and our wishes," Bush said. "May God bless the Class of 2009."