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Fairfield seniors graduate Sunday
FAIRFIELD – The 121 members of Fairfield High School’s graduating class said goodbye to their teachers and classmates Sunday afternoon as they marked the end of their journey as a Fairfield Trojan.
Fairfield High School’s commencement ceremony was held at Trojan Stadium on a beautiful, sunny day. The Southeast Iowa Regional Fire Honor Guard started the ceremony with a presentation of colors, followed by the Vox choir’s rendition of the National Anthem, and a tribute medley to the graduating seniors.
The commencement speaker for the Class of 2023 was Ryan Higgins. Higgins said all graduating classes go through their own ups and downs, but that the Class of 2023 had suffered more hardships than most, including losing both a classmate and a teacher last school year.
“We lost some great people in some of the worst ways imaginable,” Higgins said. “We set aside our differences and grieved together.”
FHS Principal Aiddy Phomvisay joked he wanted to give an hour-long commencement speech, but the other administrators wouldn’t let him.
“But I will say, ‘Go Trojans’ loudly and proudly,” he said.
After the ceremony, members of the Class of 2023 shared some of their favorite memories with The Union. Ellie Stever said the thing she’ll treasure most about FHS is the atmosphere in the student section during football games. Dallen Rippey said he felt the same way about the student section during basketball games, too.
During his high school career, Rippey was involved in track, swimming, Vox, jazz choir, and cross-country. He said his favorite Fairfield teacher was middle school physical education instructor Jerrod Belzer, who was also Rippey’s cross-country coach.
“He grew up with my grandpa, and my grandpa coached him,” Rippey said. “Coach Belzer has been a big part of my life. He’s a very good guy.”
Rippey said his favorite subject in school was math, and he particularly liked his statistics class with Lisa Myers. This fall, Rippey will study business at the University of Iowa.
“I’m thinking of becoming a real estate agent,” he said.
Stever said her favorite Fairfield teacher was Kayla Miller, who Stever had for anatomy and horticulture.
“She makes her class an easy environment to learn in, and she teaches really well,” Stever said.
Stever plans to continue her education at Iowa State University to study kinesiology. Her goal is to become a physical therapist.
Giteeka Adhikari said her favorite memory from her time in Fairfield was performing with the marching band at the Pella Tulip Festival last school year.
“We wore glow sticks all over, and we marched in the night parade covered in glow sticks,” she said.
Adhikari’s favorite Fairfield teacher was FHS band director Hannah Ball.
“She’s the realest, and she’s just so fun,” Adhikari said. “She’s so down to earth.”
Adhikari played trumpet in the band, and during the marching season, she was a drum major her junior and senior years.
Adhikari said her favorite subject in school was anatomy with Kayla Miller, and she liked it because it presented a challenge.
“I got A’s both terms, and I was proud of myself for that,” she said.
Adhikari will enroll at the University of Iowa in the fall, where she will double major in environmental science and geology.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it,” she said. “I’ll go to school and figure it out.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
