Su Valley grads rise from ashes

WILLOW — Twenty-four young men and women assembled onstage at the Willow Community Center on Thursday evening to become the 2008 graduates of Susitna Valley High School.

It’s been a tough year for the students of the small school, who lost their building and nearly all of its contents to a fire last summer. The school district scurried to create a makeshift campus just across the highway from their former location; 19 portable buildings were hauled into the parking lot of the local senior center, and the students had their school.

Susitna Valley principal Matt Clark acknowledged the graduating students with great pride.

“These kids lost their school in a fire,” Clark told the audience of several hundred. “They had no gym, no lockers, and no halls to congregate in — and yet, they excelled. They didn’t complain. There was no slacking.”

Addressing the seniors, he said, “You showed the other students how to approach a difficult situation and make the best of it.”

Julie Holbrook, the senior advisor and a Su-Valley staff member, said she thought the students having to use the portable buildings affected them in ways they may not have even realized. Her son, Kennith, was among those graduating.

“I think it’s been pretty hard on them,” she said. “In the old building, they had hallway time face-to-face. They got to see each other this year, but didn’t have as much opportunity to hang out and bond. A few kids graduated at semester, and I wonder if that factored into it at all.”

Steve Harrison teaches PE at the school. He said he found himself searching for new ways to give his kids a physical education program without a gym. “We set up our portable as a weight room, and that’s been good,” Harrison said. He has been running an outdoor education program at the school for a few years, and this year was able to really expand that program, with more snowshoeing and skiing to supplement lost indoor time.

“We even tried broomball,” he said. Harrison said he felt all the students adjusted well. “These kids are amazing that way,” he said.

Class president Kristjana Timmers also talked about the challenges of a temporary school. “At first, the attitude was very negative,” Timmers told the crowd. “But none of us bailed. Even with the options of going to Colony or home-schooling, we all stayed together.”

Valedictorian Paris White encouraged her classmates to do great things in her brief but moving speech.

“Now we are ready to graduate,” White told them. “We are as fresh as we will ever be.”

White discussed many of the problems in today’s society, saying others before the graduates have tried but failed to make much-needed positive changes.

“I want our generation to be different,” White said.

There was a tinge of sadness evident even with the celebratory mood of the event.

“I will really miss the friendships I have made,” said Rebekah Rence, who will be heading to Hocking College in Ohio. “We all grew up together; we are really close.”

As the graduates walked across the room to receive their diplomas, plans for their futures were announced. A handful of students plan to attend UAF, but quite a few have plans that scatter them like the wind.

Grant Hicks, who was recognized earlier in 2007 for his work raising thousands of dollars in donations for the school after the fire, received official recognition of his West Point appointment. He will be reporting on June 30.

Micah Mowrey plans on attending the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, Patrick Owen lists “pro wrestler” as his future occupation, and Brandy Marmor plans to become a cat breeder. From Sarah Stevens plan to “float around Talkeetna for a while” to Hicks’ impressive and well-deserved appointment to West Point, plans for the students were as varied and eclectic as the individuals themselves.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony was Maj. Gen. Stephan Layfield, commanding general of the U.S. Army Alaska. He told the seniors they were an impressive group in the way they handled themselves in the face of adversity.

“The decisions you made to overcome this setback, to stay together as a group, to drive on,” he told them, “has made you a great example to the entire state.

“Now it’s your turn to go into the world,” Layfield said. “We’re looking forward to seeing all that you will accomplish.”