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Support defines Palmer community, senior class speaker says

Frontiersman Archive May 18, 2011

A pair of Palmer High School graduates enter their ceremony with
one carrying the other. The 2011 graduating class totaled 144
students. (ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman) — A pair of Palmer High School graduates enter their ceremony with one carrying the other. The 2011 graduating class totaled 144 students. (ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman)

PALMER — Speaking to a gym full of seniors, parents, teachers and well-wishers, Wednesday, Timothy Rockey took a moment to single out his mother.

“She’s not here for just me,” Rockey said. “If I had failed to graduate she would still be in attendance.”

She would have attended the Palmer High School graduation ceremony for the kids she helped through elementary school or met on the sports fields. This kind of support defines Palmer, Rockey said, and Palmer is the one thing all of his graduating classmates have in common.

“Just about everyone in this crowd is going to clap and cheer for more than one person,” he said. “We are the 144 people who make up the class of 2011.”

A full version of this story and photos will publish in the Sunday edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.