Hawks reminded that small acts can have big effects

WASILLA — Even those from the most insignificant backgrounds can change the world.

That was the message retiring Houston High School teacher Marilyn Mitchell had for the 82 graduates of Houston High’s class of 2010. Mitchell, who spent 22 years teaching at the school, spoke Wednesday to graduates and hundreds of family and friends at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

“Remember, you are living in the greatest country the world has ever known,” Mitchell said. “Because you are an American, you have opportunities that others in the world only dream about.”

One of those opportunities is the right to vote, a duty she said all Americans have a responsibility to carry out.

“I have a bumper sticker in my room that says, ‘If you don’t vote, don’t whine,’” she said.

She also recalled her first day of teaching when “one young man turned to his friends and said, ‘Let’s get her.’ … That seventh-grade boy is now grown and the father of four future Hawks.”

But the most poignant message she had for Houston’s graduates was illustrated by examples from history of how even small actions can affect the world. One was about a farmer who saved a boy who was sinking in a mudhole. The boy’s father, a wealthy man, wanted to repay the farmer for his actions. The farmer wouldn’t take any money, so the wealthy man offered to take the farmer’s son and make sure he got a good education.

The farmer’s son grew up to be Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish pharmacologist who discovered penicillin.

And the boy the farmer saved from the mudhole? He grew up Sir Winston Churchill.

For many of the graduates, the pomp and circumstance was both a happy and sad occasion.

Samantha Berg said she had been waiting “all 12 years” of her public school career for Wednesday’s graduation. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. It’s been a hectic week, and very fast, extremely fast.”

Berg plans to attend Mat-Su College in the fall and wants “to own my own business someday.” She’s not sure exactly what type of business she wants to be in, only that it should be “very profitable.”

Kaitlin Dunn said she felt glad and sorry that school is over.

“I’m leaving some friends and kind of glad to just get out of school at the same time,” she said. But if she has her way, Dunn will be seeing plenty more of the school — as a high school art teacher.

Teaching is also in the future for Marilena Staudenmaier.

“Becoming an English teacher” is her goal, she said. “In high school. I’m so positive that I do not want to work with small children every day.”

The graduates set a mood of determination walking around the sports center balcony to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” and “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. It was almost a controlled paparazzi scene as family and friends jockeyed for position to photograph the procession.

After the graduates were seated and following Mitchell’s comments, co-valedictorians Tel Nelson and Katherine Burr addressed their classmates. Nelson went first and strayed from giving a traditional speech. Instead, he performed several violin solos, including a brisk rendition of “Irish Washerwoman” that had the crowd clapping and stomping.

Burr pointed to a pair of significant dates: Aug. 22, 2006, and May 11, 2010. The former was the first day of high school for the class of 2010, the latter the last day. While these are significant dates, they only mark the beginning of what can be many significant accomplishments, she said.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.