WILLOW — It was a packed house with standing-room-only room at the Willow Community Center Thursday as Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School sent  25 graduates from the Class of 2009 into the world.

A faulty public address system bedeviled the event and “Pomp and Circumstance” was an on-and-off affair for the processional. The microphone failure turned into a plus early on when the audience joined graduating senior Ed Anderson in a rousing rendition of the “National Anthem.”

“We had a little fun with the mic,” Principal Rob Picou said, adding  the glitch didn’t detract from an event that united the community in a celebration of its young adults.

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Picou said there was a lot of “good energy” in the room, and one set of grandparents had come all the way from Arizona for the event.

The graduation featured a “roast” of sorts by special guest speaker Dave Sutton, a man for all seasons in Talkeetna who has known most of the kids since they were in strollers. The guest speaker is chosen by the graduating class.

Sutton, an Assembly of God minister, also prepares lunch at the school, drives a school bus on the Talkeetna route and serves on the local health center’s board of directors.

“He roasted a couple of the kids, and the community,” Picou said.

The commencement featured the annual slide show, where scenes from the lives of each graduate were presented along with a quote. There is also a rose ceremony when students rush from the stage with an armful of roses and distribute them to people who have made positive impacts in their lives.

Several of the graduates won scholarships. Audrey West has more than $70,000 in scholarships as well as a $3,100 Pell Grant, the largest a Philadelphia University Faculty Scholarship at $60,000. West also received the Talkeetna Homemakers FCE Scholarship, the PTSA Scholarship and the June Nelson Memorial scholarship, each at $1,000.

Valedictorian Marc Bartel racked up $17,000 in scholarships, including $5,000 earned in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy essay scholarship competition. Bartel won state honors and represented Alaska in the national competition in Washington, D.C. The national’s capitol was also where senior Lea Shipman went to serve as a congressional page. She was awarded the PTSA and the R.A. Jones scholarships totaling $1,500.

Salutatorian Ian Mannix was awarded more than $15,000 in scholarships from Lewis & Clark, including an $8,800 Dean’s Scholarship.

Cooper Curtis received the $1,000 Bowersox Scholarship.

Next year’s Class of 2010 will graduate from the new junior high/high school campus gym in Sunshine. On Thursday, all thoughts were on the four years most of the class spent at the old campus that burned in 2007 and the past two years in portables on the temporary campus.