93 homeschoolers graduate from Mat-Su Central School

WASILLA — Having thanked everyone who helped get her there and explained why her Mat-Su Central School education meant so much to her, senior Kalila J. Sawyer ended her speech Monday with a quote from Mark Twain.

“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way,” she said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

She urged her classmates to grab cats by their tails if they must, but never give up on learning.

The 93 seniors to receive diplomas at the ceremony held at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School was the biggest class so far to graduate from Mat-Su Central, said principal John Brown.

Mat-Su Central is unique in that it is less a school than it is a central hub for homeschooling. There is instruction space there, sure, but staff members play more of an advisory role. The teachers are at home with the children.

Which is why the ceremony each year has a few elements that focus on that relationship between the students and their parent instructors. Students give a rose to the person who helped them the most, and stand up at the start of the ceremony to honor those family members.

Brianna J. Barcus, who also gave a speech at Monday’s ceremony, said she came to Alaska from a small town with a “one-size-fits-all” approach to education. She didn’t think much about her future.

But then she found Mat-Su Central School and everything changed.

“I finally had a say in my education,” she said, and now she’s heading to college with a clear direction.

She said she started writing her speech thinking she’d give advice to her classmates.

“It dawned on me that I am not really qualified to give advice to my classmates because I am in the same boat,” she said.

In his remarks, Brown elicited shouts of “failure” when he asked the crowd to tell him the opposite of success. However, he said he would argue that the opposite of success is failing to act.

“Failure is an integral part of success,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.