Eddie Bryant said he didn’t think a long time before walking out on the gym floor for an impromptu dance with daughter Polly during Haines High School graduation ceremonies Tuesday.
The Bryants’ dance came as seniors James Morgan and Grace Jones sang Billy Joel’s ballad “Vienna.” The father and daughter soon had company, as a half-dozen other parents came out of the bleachers to dance with their children in the graduating class.
The unscripted scene moved many in the audience to tears and was one of several emotional moments during the annual send-off at Karl Ward Gymnasium.
“Any time a song like that comes on when we’re home, I grab her hand and we dance,” Bryant explained afterward. “That’s one of the things I’m going to miss when she goes off to school. Everybody should dance with their children.”
Mom Denise Sherman followed Bryant’s lead, dancing with son Walker Blair. “It was like a last childhood moment with him,” Sherman said. “We used to dance together when he was little. I’d put him up on the coffee table. Now he towers over me. (Childhood) passes in a glimpse, doesn’t it?”
Valedictorian Serena Badgley’s recounting of the death of classmate Andrew Williamson, who drowned at Portage Cove in May 2010, days after eighth grade promotion, proved another tender moment. Badgley characterized the tragedy as something that tempered her class. “That was a long, hard summer for our class and our town, but we relied on each other, which created a strength we didn’t have by ourselves,” she said. She thanked the town for surrounding the students with support.
Badgley characterized her classmates as “determined,” “stubborn” and “amazing,” traits she said the world needed. “This world needs people who will fight for what they want and our class has people who will speak out. We have leaders in this class… we need to take our leadership skills and be powerful outside of our high school.”
Badgley also urged classmates to take chances in their lives. “Don’t give yourself the chance to have regrets on risks you didn’t take. Go out in the world and do take some chances. You may fail; if so, it isn’t the end. You just get back on a new track and go for the next thing.”
Commencement speaker Doug Olerud, a local grocery store owner and school sportscaster who graduated from Haines High School in 1988, used levity and revelations about his own self-doubts to make points in his address.
Olerud pointed out that the class had great joy and deep sorrow, and to find balance between them. He urged graduates to let Williamson be a reminder “that none of us are promised tomorrow.”
Olerud said he once aspired to become a network sportscaster, but found that he didn’t do well in cities and couldn’t see himself working for a large corporation. “Something better came along. By being in Haines I was able to work as a coach, as a referee and eventually I had the great fortune to broadcast basketball games on the radio… Life has a way of modifying your plans… Most of your plans will change. Don’t worry about it.”
More importantly, graduates should work on developing character, he said, including respect for family and community. “Give back. Volunteer. Don’t sit back and talk about how nothing is being done right. If you don’t like it, get involved. Democracy only works if we engage in respectful debate and value the opinions of others.”
Students have been told for years that they’re special, he said. “Now it’s your responsibility to prove it,” he told them. Own up to mistakes, cultivate relationships with friends, and make time with them, don’t just “like” their latest post on Facebook, he said. “Your friends are invaluable. Treat them that way.”
Work through differences with family members and “recognize a relationship with a higher power,” he said. “When we recognize there is something greater than ourselves, it allows us to have more empathy for others. It allows us to accept our flaws” and withhold judgment on others’ flaws, he said.
Olerud said he didn’t learn self-respect for 42 years, and until recently couldn’t express love for others. Family and friends lifted him, he said. “At 44, I’m still a work in progress, but I am saying ‘yes’ to new opportunities more often.” He told students, “No matter how tough life gets, no matter how down you are, there are people who love you and care about you. This gym is filled with them.”
Salutatorian Chris Turner dedicated much of his talk to teachers and parents. “The truth is our parents know us better than we know ourselves. Every major step in our life that we take, our parents are there in the background, watching, ready to catch us when we stumble along the way.”
The class also heard from Barbara Mark, their first-grade teacher, who returned to Haines from Boise, Idaho for the graduation. Mark said the class demonstrated virtues, including service, at an early age. “Those same virtues will continue to work for you if you continue to polish them. All it takes is one person.”
The ceremony was emotional even for exchange students in the class. Yael Paes of Belgium arrived in Haines 10 months ago. She said there was nothing akin to a graduation ceremony in her country. Her parents Philippe and Fabiemme Paes were at Tuesday’s ceremony, the second day of their first visit to the United States.
She was tearful, she said, “because my parents and my friends in Haines are exceptional.”
The graduation was the second one streamed live through the Internet. About 25 people watched it that way, said teacher and school technology chief Sam McPhetres.
Student scholarships and awards were made Tuesday morning during a separate ceremony at the school.
They included: National Merit Award Finalist: Eli White, Sasha Mackowiak; University of Alaska Scholars ($11,000 over 4 years): Chris Turner, Serena Badgley, Eli White, Sasha Mackowiak; Horatio Alger Scholarship ($6,000): Chevy Fowler; Southeast Alaska Board of Realtors ($1,000): Rebekah Green; Haines Volunteer Fire Department ($750 each): Isobel Smith, Libby Jacobson, Serena Badgley, Jess Giddings; Haines Emblem Club ($500 each): Libby Jacobson, Chevy Fowler, Rebekah Green, Serena Badgley, Sasha Mackowiak, Grace Jones; ($1,000 each): Matt Blood, Abigail Diggins; Uglys of Haines ($1,000 each): Libby Jacobson, Chevy Fowler, Danielle Dallmann, Serena Badgley; ($5,000): Elena Horner; Alaska Native Sisterhood ($500 each): Polly Bryant, Isobel Smith Kai Sato-Franks, Alisha Young, Brandon Bachman, Fran Daly, Riley Erekson, Crystalyn Lemieux; Barbara Campbell Memorial/Haines Sportsmen’s Association ($500 each): John Gross, Chevy Fowler, Tyler Swinton; American Legion ($1,000 each): Rebekah Green, Zeke Frank, John Gross, Justin Swinton; American Legion Auxiliary ($500): Alisha Young, Crystalyn Lemieux; Annabelle Carey Memorial ($500): Nicole Stickler; Haines Women’s Club ($750): Matt Blood; Mildred Hermann ($750) Rebekah Green; Haines Animal Rescue Kennel Anderson-Barnes Memorial Scholarship ($500): Esther Bower; Pat Jones Memorial ($750 each): Young Eagle Scientists Skye Posey, Elena Saunders, Dominic Stossel, Sheeshao White, Tiaya Ruggirello; Tamera Hyatt Hanson Fine Arts Scholarship ($500 each): Isobel Smith, Polly Bryant; Chilkat Valley News Raymond R. Menaker Writing Award ($1,000): Eli White; Lynn Canal Conservation ($400 each): Libby Jacobson, Eli White; Haines Friends of Recycling ($1,000): Eli White; Juneau Lions Club ($1,000): Jamie Messerschmidt; Haines Education Association and School Staff ($500 each): Eli White, Serena Badgley, Ryan Olsen; Delta Western ($10,000 over 4 years): Rebekah Green.