Graduates Receive Diplomas...

Photo By S.J. Wilson

The stadium was packed as the community filled each seat on the home side and at least half of the visitors side to watch the class of 2001 receive their diplomas.

The class proceeded in to the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the traditional Pomp and Circumstance, which were performed by the Winslow High School Band.

Robert “Bubba” McKinney welcomed friends, family, faculty and administration to the ceremony. “This is a special event and we’re honored you’re here to share this with us,” he said.

Four seniors welcomed the guests in their native languages: David Manthel, Student Body President in English; Georgiann Neboyia in Navajo; Jonnie Ackerman in Spanish; Justine Cuellar in Hopi.

The classes theme, 2001: A Class Odyssey , which was introduced by Taylor Maldonado, served as a discussion point of Keynote Speaker Allan Affeldt’s address. Affeldt, Founder/President of La Posada, said once he was informed of the theme he rented the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey to see how the film related to the class.

He talked about how a bunch of apes were jumping around, then they become model citizens and got on the spaceship, and the spaceship manage to find life on Jupiter.

“That is a heck of a metaphor,” he said. “Finding life on Jupiter is like finding life outside of Winslow.”

He encouraged the graduates by asking them to think of what the world would be like in the future. He asked them if “they would watch the changes or make the changes.” He also encouraged them to remember that “under all the surface changes, we all will still be humans.”

He said that the popular statement, “Opportunity only knocks once,” was not true. “It knocks everyday. You get a chance to change and make things better.”

He closed his address with these words, “What is possible is a state of mind, what you believe to be impossible is like a prison.”

Next to take the podium was Jackie Calhoun with her Salutatorian address, A Nation Filled with Promise. In it she defined an odyssey as an extended wandering or journey. “What a journey it’s been.”

She talked about the feeling that 2001 would never get here when the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1968. “It [the year 2001] has arrived and is the gateway to our future.”

Calhoun reminded her classmates that they were the future of the country. “What we do with our lives will determine the success or failure of this great nation. We have the opportunity to take the technology before us and expand on it or leave it be. The choice is ours and ours alone to decide.”

She pointed out that this was not only the classes beginning, but the world’s beginning as well. “Not only a new year lies before us, but a blank page in our world’s history - a whole new millennium.”

Valedictorian Jennifer Miller delivered the final address of the ceremony. In her speech, Roses and Thorns Grow Together, Miller started by saying that unlike people who thought this ceremony was an ending, she thought of the event as a beginning. “I just want my class to know how awesome they are and how proud I am to be a part of this wonderful group.”

Her address focused on one idea, that all people have faults but that does not have to be a bad thing. “In spite of any shortcomings we have, we are some amazing people.” She told the story of a water jug that had a crack in its side. The pot’s owner knew about its fault and used it to help the flowers he had planted to grow.

Miller encouraged her classmates to find their talents and learn to use them. “It’s easier to accept our shortcomings. The thorns aren’t quite so hard to take when you stop and smell the roses.”

She reminded her fellow seniors that they had “wings” to fall back on. “We have our families, our friends, our education thus far, and all the life lessons we have learned along the way. These will bear us up and help us on our way towards greatness.”

The ceremony concluded with the presentation of the diplomas by the Governing Board of Education and Todd Wilcox, Senior Class Vice-President, thanking everyone for attending the ceremony.

Fireworks donated by Simmons were set off after the final presentation of the class.

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