39 earn MidValley diploma

May 22, 2007

By Russell Stigall/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - MidValley High School graduates got a sunny ceremony on Lake Lucille to go along with their bright futures.

While outside waiting to make an entrance at their graduation ceremony, Katie Fletcher and Jamie Estes chatted with friends and protected their handfuls of flowers.

&#8220I've been waiting a long time for this,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher is a recipient of the University of Alaska scholarship. She said she will start college in January at the UA Mat-Su campus.

&#8220In the meantime, I'm going to travel,” Fletcher said.

Jamie Estes said she would find work for the summer before she starts nursing school in the fall. Estes plans to attend UA Mat-Su, too.

The ceremony began with speeches by several of the graduating seniors.

Ashley Osmar said she was impressed with the audience turnout.

&#8220If I'd realized how many people would be here, I wouldn't have agreed to talk,” she said.

Osmar said many people helped her graduate, and she hoped to be able to thank them without crying. An emotional night for all, Osmar did not make it through her speech without a few tears.

Danielle Dana read a poem for her classmates. She said she preferred a poem over a speech because art was more intimate for her. She said she hoped her classmates would be spontaneous and prosperous human beings.

MidValley High School class of 2007 held its graduation at the Lake Lucille Best Western in Wasilla. The ceremony was well-attended with graduates being outnumbered 3 to 1 by guests, family and friends.

Virginia Smith is the language arts and social studies teacher for MidValley. She is also the adviser for three MidValley seniors - Jared Cleland, Isaac Thistle and Scott Weight. Smith said it was a thrill for her to watch the seniors grow up.

&#8220The transformation is amazing,” Smith said. &#8220They've grown a year in the last month.”

Smith said her students are proud of what they've accomplished.

&#8220And rightly so, we're also proud,” she said.

MidValley welcomed Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-Meadow Lakes, as the ceremony's keynote speaker. MidValley Principal Becky Huggins introduced the senator, her husband.

&#8220What makes him the perfect speaker for tonight, is what makes him Charlie,” Becky Huggins said.

Sen. Huggins stuck to his opening remark that speakers should &#8220be bold, be brief and be seated.”

To the MidValley graduating seniors Huggins said that the people in the audience - the parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers and friends - all sacrificed in some way to help the graduates through high school. To repay the sacrifice on their behalf, Huggins told the seniors to do one thing.

&#8220Make it your goal in life to do a little bit better than your parents, and you will repay those who have sacrificed for you,” he said.

MidValley works with the Job Corps to bring students to graduation. This year, 11 of MidValley's graduates worked their way through the Job Corps program.

The University of Alaska gives scholarships to the top 10 percent of students in each graduating class at Alaska high schools. MidValley had eight recipients of the $11,000-per-year scholarship.

The award went to Jordan Brown, Katie Fletcher, Martin Kostrzab, Shiloh Morrison, Ashley Osmar, Angela Seigman, Nolan Swihart and Isaac Thistle.

At the end of the ceremony, as the graduates filed outside to mingle with family on the shore of Lake Lucille, Shalinda Kaalakea, John Kaalakea's mother, and Lani Loe, his grandmother, wrapped lei after lei around their graduate's neck. The family used flowers, shells and candy bars to celebrate John Kaalakea's graduation.

&#8220It's great,” Lani Loe said. &#8220We're glad he did it.”

Shalinda Kaalakea was more practical about the outcome of her son's hard work and determination.

&#8220I hope he gets a good job,” Kaalakea said.

MidValley High School

Class of 2007

Andrew W. Alex, Wayne M. Ashe, Bryan L. Beebe, Ryan David Benedict, Ryan Allen Bernier, Jordan Mark Brown, Jared L. Cleland, Amy Marie Cooper, Danielle N. Dana, Loretta L. Dodgin, Jaime Joan Estes, Katie Jeanné Fletcher, James D. W. Gross, Kayla S. Harding, Genevieve E. Hutson, John Keoni Kaalakea III, Brittany Rosemarry Kelso, Martin L. Kostrzab, Kristine P. Milton, Shiloh G. Morrison, Michael L. Myers, James M. Nelson, Gene D. Okitkun, Ashley M. Osmar, Terry D. Phillips-Tomlinson, Thomas J. Pretzel, Rose Ann Queen, Angelica A. Samudio, Jessica Rose Sebwenna, Emilee E. Secoy, Angela N. Seigman, Leah Marie Sheldon, Paul D. Sutton-Jones, Justyn Allen Swanson, Nolan Kane Swihart, Isaac James Thistle, Scott K. Weight, Fue Xiong, Shaina L. Young