By Kim McDarison
The Fort Atkinson High School 134th Commencement Ceremony, titled: “On Cloud Nine,” was held Sunday, June 12, in the Fort Atkinson High School gymnasium. Some 260 Class of 2022 seniors as listed on the commencement program graduated before friends and family.
During the presentation, several speakers came to the podium, including Class of 2022 President Drew Evans, as well as other class officers, including Jennifer Tumbarello, treasurer; Sophia Chapman, secretary; Logan Recob, student senate representative, and Kiara Wolfram, also a student senate representative.
Also speaking from the podium were faculty speaker Justin Frey and School District of Fort Atkinson Superintendent Rob Abbott.
Members of the high school administration were on hand to award diplomas, as well as two members of the School District of Fort Atkinson Board of Education: Amy Reynolds and Rhona Buchta.
Members of the School District of Fort Atkinson administration, as listed on the commencement program, included Abbott, Fort Atkinson High School Principal Steve Sperry, associate principals Brad Gefvert and Adam Rousseau, and Athletic and Activities Director Steve Mahoney.
During his speech, Evans told his classmates: “It is important that we take the skills and lessons learned here and start applying them into the next stage of our lives. It is also important for us to look back and appreciate our success and the mark we left here at Fort Atkinson High School.”
He continued: “We as a class have faced our fair share of adversity. Our sophomore year, spring break turned into a six-month vacation, which turned into online schooling. Our high school career has not been easy. From extracurricular struggles to quarantine, we have been thrown curveball after curveball.
“If you would have told me four years ago that over a quarter of my high school career would be on Zoom, I would have asked: ‘What?’ I didn’t know what Zoom was.”
Evans described “unexpected changes” and “bumps in the road,” but, he said, “all the times we got knocked down, we got up.”
He added: “I can genuinely say that I am proud of what this class achieved both individually and as a group … I can say with confidence that the people of this class will achieve great things.”
During his speech, Recob talked about the value foreign exchange students bring to students in Fort Atkinson, saying: “We have a relatively small and tight knit community, because of this, it isn’t often that we get to experience people with drastically different backgrounds and experiences than our own.”
Over the last four years, he said, he had developed lasting friendships with foreign exchange students, and, he said, “these friendships have changed my perspective a lot.”
He added: “I hope they remember us as fondly as we remember them.”
This year, the district had three foreign exchange students who participated in the class of 2022.
They are Gioia Gatto of Italy, Maxim Kvachyov of Kazakhstan, and Paula Palacios Moreno of Spain.
Two of the three, Gatto and Palacios Moreno, attended the graduation ceremony.
During the presentation, the foreign exchange students were each presented with a complementary yearbook.
Addressing students and their guests, Frey said that he found writing a commencement address to be a “daunting task.”
He asked: “What do you say to a group of individuals who are on the precipice of a great life change?”
Frey said he asked for advice about what to say and was told the following: “One person said ‘tell a Dad joke.’ Another person told me ‘keep it short.’ The next person said, ‘just speak from your heart.’”
Frey said he decided to do all three things.
He next told his Dad joke: “What do you call an acid with attitude?” He answered: “A-mean-o-acid.”
He said there would be “no worries” about his keeping it short.
He next gave a message from the heart: “It’s common at this stage of your life to be asked: What do you plan on doing with your life? and: What are your plans?”
He noted that students had likely already contemplated the answers to the questions, and weighed various options available to them.
“While these questions are important for you to consider, today, I ask you to think about a different question. It’s a question that you may think you already know the answer to. A question that on its surface seem too easy. In my opinion, your answer to this question matters far more than ‘what are your plans?’ and it’s not necessarily the question that most people will ask you.”
He asked: “What kind of person do you want to be?”
He continued: “A quick bit of advice as you ponder the person you want to become. I have found that your relationships are stronger and life is better when you talk less and listen more, you smile often, you are quick to laugh — especially at yourself — you treat others with warmth, you are quick to forgive and you go out of your way to interact with others in person. Lastly, always remember this: people will never forget how you make them feel. Be a person who makes people feel loved.”
Before introducing the graduating class and handing out diplomas, Abbott told students that they would always have a home within the School District of Fort Atkinson.
He said: “Graduation is a transition, a time of change, and it places you in a position of immense opportunity. Given the opportunity that lies ahead, I encourage you to take a bit of an inventory of your supports, your go-tos, when challenges pop up.
“In most cases, your family, which can be defined in a lot of different ways, has been, and remains your go-to, your support system. These are the people you don’t appreciate nearly enough because you know they care about you. Your family is who you go to when you need a little guidance, need to admit a little help is needed, or want a guaranteed cheerleader.
He continued: “You are about to walk across the stage and into a whole new set of days in life beyond high school, and that may feel a little daunting as well.
“You, and we, have been faced with a few years of ‘can’t.’ Your high school years looked vastly different from those of generations of graduates before you. You have faced a seemingly endless list of things that could not be done, at least not in the ways they had been in the past.”
Abbott asked each student, as they faced challenges in life, to not dwell on the “can’ts,” but instead, to ask themselves: “What if you can?”
He concluded: “You will forever be part of our 1FORT family; where we are one team, one district, and one community … Work hard, prepare to learn from your failures, celebrate those people who support you, and never forget you will always have a 1FORT Blackhawk home.”
Click on the image below to view photos from Sunday’s ceremony.
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