by Joni Astrup
Associate Editor
Superintendent Mark Bezek urged graduates to develop their own personal vision and core values as they venture into the world.
Speaking at Zimmerman High School’s commencement exercises Wednesday night, Bezek said vision is your dream of where you want to go with your life, mission is deciding the path you will take for that vision and core values are how you are going to act along the way.
“Write them down and reflect on them often,” he advised.
Bezek also stressed the importance of passion.
He gave the example of Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center in New York City was attacked. Today’s graduates were toddlers at the time, but Bezek said it was a game-changing event in history.
“On that day in New York City there were two types of people,” he said. “There were those rushing down the stairs and there were those rushing up the stairs.”
Those going up the stairs of the Twin Towers were dedicated, well-trained and passionate public servants rushing to save lives, he said.
“Passion is what every employer and coach is looking for,” he said.
Also speaking were co-valedictorians Christina Jacobson and Kimika Padilla as well as English teacher Amy Onstad, who led the Class of 2016 in cheers of “Boomba Hey!”
Jacobson’s speech was titled “Define Truth.”
She said the truth was concrete when they were little children, but now graduates will find that the truth is more abstract, “an ever-changing sea of gray.”
There are many varieties of the truth out there, she said, and all are vying to be heard.
“We need to define what we believe is true,” she said.
Padilla said it is fitting that the term “valedictorian” is derived from a word that means to bid farewell.
Graduates, she said, are beginning a voyage that is uniquely their own.
She told her classmates that for the first time they have the power to determine how to live their lives.
Padilla urged them to find a purpose and put their knowledge to use with the confidence that nobody else can do something exactly like they will.
She left them with a Japanese proverb that says, “Fall down seven times, but stand up eight.”
Graduates entered and exited the auditorium to music performed by the high school band.
The high school choir also made an appearance, singing “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
Teacher Jim Doran gave the welcome, Assistant Principal Kurran Sagan presented the class and School Board Director Jamie Plantenberg-Selbitschka accepted the class.
Faculty and staff representatives presented the seniors and School Board members then gave them their diplomas.
Doran said the Class of 2016 totaled 145 graduates, bringing the number of Thunder alumni to more than 1,500.